


Belonging

by VexedBeverage



Series: Belonging - A Magic AU [1]
Category: Hat Films - Fandom, Hatfilms, The Yogscast
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Magic AU, Vex headcanon, belonging au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-04-19 08:46:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 44,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4740182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VexedBeverage/pseuds/VexedBeverage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A teencast magic AU set in the modern day within my own head canon. </p><p>A story of lonely outcasts finding somewhere they can belong</p><p>Will focus primarily on the Hats but there will be many yogs in along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Friends

Christopher Trott rolled his eyes as his mother fussed over him, trying to get his hair to lay flat before brushing at the shoulders of his suit jacket. “Are you sure your tie wasn’t in your wardrobe?” 

Chris barely managed to reply without sounding like a petulant child. “Yes.” 

“I could go try and find one of your dads for you…” 

He brought his hands up to ruffle his hair back into place. “Mom, no one cares if I wear a tie or not, I’m not even allowed in the room with you.” 

The woman nodded absently. “I suppose you’re right.” She offered him a large smile, but he knew her too well, it was her ‘Mothering’ smile, the encouraging one she would give whenever he needed to do something he didn’t want to.

Chris followed after his mother as she led the way towards the locked door at the end of the hallway, he wasn’t ever allowed in this room alone, his mother kept the most powerful ingredients and artefacts in here behind locks and wards that he wasn’t skilled enough to break. 

The smell of herbs, candles and incense caused waves of memories to cascade over him, he caught the look on his mother’s face out the corner of his eye but he didn’t turn to face her, too afraid of the pain he knew would be written there. 

The room was much as he remembered it from his last visit almost three years ago when his father had sat down to talk to him about his growing powers and the trials and responsibilities he needed to face, the last real conversation they had ever had. 

He zoned out for a while, battling against his own subconscious to push away the memories as his mother pulled ingredients off shelves and out of drawers. 

“Chris?” He met her eyes and wished he hadn’t, her pupils were blown wide, black almost eclipsing brown. He made his way over, taking the glinting silver knife from her and drawing it across his palm. 

He could have recited the chant in his sleep, the first ritual he had ever been taught rolling off his tongue and dying in the stillness of the room. The door sprang into existence to his left, his mother smiled before she took the handle and stepped through, he followed closely behind. 

**********

A knock on the bedroom door shook Hannah from her contemplation. She shot her reflection a dirty look as the door swung open. “Come on Sweetheart, they’ll be arriving soon.” Hannah turned to look at her father with raised eyebrows, he let out an amused huff as he approached, turning her to face the mirror again, their eyes met in the glass. “You look beautiful.” 

A huff of annoyance left Hannah’s nose as she looked at herself again. “I look like an idiot.” 

They'd, had this conversation many times. Whenever there was a function or meeting her mother tended to go overboard, laying out elaborate pastel dresses with matching ribbons and shoes for her daughter who had grown out of such things many years before. Her father signed and rested his chin on top of her head for a moment. “Sometimes we have to do things to make others happy.” 

Hannah rolled her eyes at the man in the mirror. “I know Dad.” 

He smiled at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he did. “However…” He continued, his right hand coming and gently tugging at one of the ribbons holding her blonde hair in a braided pigtail. “You shouldn’t sacrifice your sense of self to try and make people happy.” The ribbon fell away and he ran his fingers through the strands before removing the second ribbon, causing the right side of her hair to fall in soft waves against her neck. “Five minutes.” With a kiss to the top of Hannah’s head he turned and left the room. 

She smiled at herself in the mirror whilst pulling the other ribbons from her hair and shaking it out. Looking down at herself she scrutinised her outfit, it really wasn’t that bad, a simple swing dress that fell to just above her knee, it was the colour that was the problem, the sunshine yellow washing out her pale skin and clashing with her blond hair. 

A minute of indecision followed as she worried her lip, just how much trouble would she be in if she did it? Her father’s words echoed through her head and her mind was made up, with a couple whispered words and an unnatural hand gesture the yellow was gone, replaced with a cool blue that matched the blonde’s eyes. 

**********

The room they found on the other side of the door was large and ornate, their hosts standing in a line with huge smiles plastered to their faces. Chris side stepped as his mother was enveloped in a hug by the other woman, excited chatter that it had been too long and they should see each other more often tumbling from lips. 

Hannah’s father eyed Chris for a moment before sticking his hand out. “You look more and more like your father every time I see you.” 

Chris does as he is expected, smiles, thanks the man and shakes his hand trying not to let any hint of sadness mar the greeting. As soon as his hand is free from the other mans a smaller hand closes around his and immediately starts to tug him in the direction of the door. “Have fun in your meeting dad.” Hannah projects over her shoulder as they exit. 

They don’t speak until they arrive in an empty room at the other end of the expansive house, the décor is much more modern than any of the house they passed on their way. A large TV dominates one wall, sofas and armchairs litter the space, the other walls lined with books. Hannah releases his hand and flops onto one of the chairs. “Thanks.” Chris says as he too situates himself on a chair. 

Hannah shrugs at him, his thanks not being needed. “You’ve been off the grid a while, how is stuff going?” 

He rubs at his face, Hannah always had a way of being able to make him tell her everything, he always joked that was a secondary power she had but she would laugh it off and just insist that they had known each other for too long for them to keep secrets. “She still isn’t letting up on the no magic in the house thing.” 

Hannah grimaced. “Do you ever get to practice?” 

A sigh escaped him. “I try to do little stuff in my room when she isn’t around but I can’t do anything big, she would know. Smith is the only one of us I know that lives close but his parents are in the dark so we can’t really practice around his either. We have tried a couple of things in other places, we found this place in the woods for a while but I couldn’t sneak any books or anything out so I could only really teach Smith how to do stuff I already know.” 

“That sucks man.” Hannah sympathises, if her parents weren’t so proud of their magical heritage she wouldn’t be as far along with her magic as she was. 

“Hey guys!” The shout from the door was met with a large grin from Hannah and Chris. 

Hannah shot up from her chair and met the new girl half way into the room with a hug. “How’s…” Hannah pauses. “…Wherever the hell you have moved to this time.” 

Kim throws her head back and laughs. “Cook Islands, New Zealand.” Hannah steers the other girl towards a sofa where Kim curls her feet under herself before continuing. “Can only get internet via satellite so it isn’t exactly ideal for gaming with you guys.” 

“See, it isn’t just me!” Chris says to Hannah, his arms waving as he speaks. “We’re all isolated, we need some way of communicating and helping each other out, like think… if you could spend some actual time with Rythian or Ridge, how much would you be able to learn?” 

“I don’t care about learning magic, I would just like to be able to hang out with people who I don’t have to lie to constantly.” Kim stated with a sad look. “It’s hard enough making friends when we keep moving around so much, on top of that I have to make all these excuses when I have to disappear every month, I personally don’t care about trying to learn any magic, I don’t really have much use for it other than for entertainment and laziness but being able to hang out with people I can actually talk to about this stuff would be nice.”

A look crosses Hannah’s face that has Kim tilting her head to try and figure out, her canine side showing in the gesture. “I have an idea…” Hannah says smiling at her friends. “I met this guy online, he is like a friend of a friend of a friend of my dad’s, we have been playing some WoW together with some of his friends and his power could help us all out with this.” This was directed all at Kim, Chris was in the guild along with a few other of their acquaintances. 

“Who?” Chris asked, he hadn’t really talked to a lot of the people in the guild outside of the game, and whilst in the game you only really talked about what was going on in there, he didn’t know everyone’s powers. 

“Lewis.” When she received a blank look from Chris she elaborated. “Xephos, he can create multiple permanent portals.” 

Kim’s eyebrows disappeared into her hair fringe. “What, so he could put a portal at my house and another somewhere else and I could come through whenever I wanted?” 

Kim’s answering smile at Hannah’s nod practically lit up the room.


	2. The Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bit of gore and horror for this one guys

It was like one of those awful horror films that he used to scoff at. 

He hadn’t even wanted to come on this trip but as he kept being reminded by his case worker that if he didn’t continue in his further education then he wouldn’t be able to stay at the home anymore as he had now turned Sixteen. 

He hadn’t had the best starts in life but he thought he was doing okay, all he needed to do was to save enough money from his weekend job so he could afford the equipment he needed to be able to complete his portfolio, once he had that he could concentrate on making movies and get a free ride in some university where he would be able to live by his own rules and not have strangers telling him what he could and couldn’t do all the time. 

That was the plan, get his degree. Get a good job. Never look back, only forwards, that was something he tried to live by. 

 

The screams from the teacher’s tents had reached them first, the adults had decided to take the outer perimeter to stop any students exploring the woods in the night, fearing them getting lost or coming back pregnant. 

The small huddle of students still by the fire had shared a look and gone to investigate, thinking it was one of the others playing a prank on a teacher. “Nash probably just found Jess and Steve fucking in the bushes.” He didn’t know the boy who spoke but it didn’t sound like that kind of scream to him, it had been pure fear. 

He hadn’t known what to do when he saw the carnage, the tents had been ripped open, blood pooled on ruined canvas, mutilated body parts laid strewn on the ground. Someone retched to his right but he didn’t turn to them, his eyes refusing to look away from the devastation. This couldn’t be real. 

One of the girls screamed, high pitched, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. Turning he watched as the girl raised a shaky hand and pointed into the darkness afforded by the trees.

Then he saw it, movement in the darkness of the trees, some primitive part of his brain screamed at him that what he was seeing wasn’t right or natural. 

Then he was moving, his survival instinct kicking in causing him to shout to the others to run, they immediately scattered and he lost them all in the forest, their screams carrying on the breeze. 

He couldn’t say how far he had run, his legs and lungs burnt as he came to a stumbling stop. He couldn’t run any more. He hunched over, hands resting on his shaking knees as he tried to catch his breath, straining his ears to try and discern if he was as alone as he thought.

First there was silence and he wasn’t sure if that was the answer he had wanted, silence meant he had escaped but it also meant that he was alone out here, in the dark. He ran his hands through his dark hair, sweat dripping from his brow as he decided that he needed to keep moving. 

He was walking on autopilot, trying to be quiet but to also get as much distance between himself and the horrors of the campsite as humanly possible. His breathing had evened out and he was actively keeping his mind as blank as possible, he couldn’t afford to think about what he had seen right now. 

A rustle of dry leaves and the snapping of a twig were what finally broke him, tears coursing down his face, he pleaded with every deity he could think of to help him as he backed away from the creature, hands held aloft in surrender.

The ground was hard as he fell, his heel having caught against a rock, scrambling backwards through rotting leaves and fallen logs he tried to block out the sounds of the others that had come into earshot, their screams and pleas echoing through the trees. Scrapes and gashes cut holes into flesh as he tried to propel himself backwards, away from the screams and the overwhelming smell of blood being spilt in the darkness of the night. 

His breathing was painfully ragged as he tried quell the sounds coming from his own terrified throat. His brain tried to rationalise the scene before him but it was anything but rational, wild dogs or whatever the hell they were did not roam the British countryside and attack people. 

The creature stalked towards him, its eyes a shocking green that didn’t fit with the rest of its colouring, the hair at the back of the animal’s neck was standing on end, making it appear bigger than it was but he wasn’t concerned with its hair when its massive, sharp teeth were glinting at him in the light of the moon.

His back connected with a tree, it was too close, and there was nowhere else for him to go.

The creature lunged and he did the only thing he could think of, his feet kicked out trying to stop the creature reaching him. A thudding kick to the head didn’t even slow it down, it only seemed to make it angrier as it circled him to attack again. 

Jaws closed around his forearm, screams bordering on inhuman were wrenched from his throat as he tried to yank his arm back, only causing more damage to himself. Blood streamed out of the creatures mouth and down its muzzle as he tried to fight against it, tears blurring his vision. 

The animal pulled him down, his stomach hitting the uneven ground and knocking whatever air he had left out of his lungs. Something sharp dug into his hip as he was dragged along the forest floor, towards what, he didn’t know. 

He heard, rather than felt his shoulder pop out of the socket as the creature shook its head like some kind of terrier, spots of light invaded his vision as he fought against unconsciousness. 

His good arm fumbled around trying to find anything he could use as a weapon, blood covered hand sliding over branches and other debris in panic before he managed to get a grip on a large, rugged stone. 

Using the last of his strength he held tight to the rock and, fighting against the awkward angle he brought it down on the creatures head with a resounding crack. The creature released his arm to let out a loud yelp.

The last thing he saw before he passed out was those impossibly green eyes looking down at him, a howl sounded in the night as he finally gave into oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback and questions encouraged!


	3. The first meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first meeting is set

The conversation with Lewis had gone about as well as expected, he was weary of exposing himself and others through the portals. As he had said, ‘Hannah’ could be anyone really, they had never met in person and knew practically nothing about each other so he had said he would think about it and try to come up with a way of some of them meeting to decide if it was a good idea or not. 

His answer came almost two weeks after their initial conversation.

**********

Simon eyed Duncan as he and Lewis went over the plan again. “Are you sure we should be doing this?” He voiced to the others. 

Lewis turned to look at Simon, he knew he had good reason to be nervous but he had as much to gain from this as any of them. 

Duncan sighed at the ginger boy. “If you’re that worried then come with me, you can hide in my pocket or something and if it does go sour then you can get away and fly back here or something.” 

Lewis threw Simon a pointed look. “You need to decide now friend, rendezvous in sixty seconds.” 

Duncan walked away a few feet, gathering his concentration and shaking out his arms. With a pained groan he took a step backwards, separating himself into two identical people. As was tradition, the original Duncan held his hand up for a high five from his clone who slapped their hands together with a satisfying clap. “We’re ready.” They both said at the same time, laughing at Lewis’ exasperated expression at their antics. 

“Are you coming or not?” The copy asked Simon as he held his breast pocket open and wiggled his eyebrows. Simon shook his head so the clone shrugged his shoulders and turned to Lewis who was drawing runes in the air with his hands. 

Lewis’ portals were always pretty, like a mass of swirling stars in a midnight blue sky. “Good luck.” Original Duncan said as he clapped his clone on the back. 

“Be careful!” Lewis added as he stepped into the portal. 

**********

Hannah jumped from her place sitting on a fallen log as the portal appeared in the trunk of an old, large oak. 

A boy stepped through, he looked to be around the same age as herself, his blonde hair floppy and a little too long in the front, dangling behind his glasses to cover one of his eyes. Flicking the hair out of his eye he surveyed his surroundings before smiling at her. “You must be Hannah.” 

Hannah smiled back and nodded. “That’s me, you are Duncan right?” 

“Yep.” The silence was awkward, Hannah wasn’t really sure what they were supposed to do now. She watched as Duncan’s face went blank, like he was trying to remember something. His eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment before they snapped back to Hannah. “So, you want to come through and meet Lewis and Simon? We trust you now.” 

Hannah’s hand went to her jeans pocket where it closed around some shrunken vials, reassuring herself that she was safe and if anything went wrong that she had a plan. “You got some kind of telepathic connection with them or something?” 

Duncan smiled at her. “Not exactly, why don’t you come and see for yourself?” With that he turned and walked back through the portal. 

Well he was infuriating, Hannah thought to herself as she approached the portal. “Fuck it.” She whispered to herself as she took the final step. 

**********

“She’s coming.” Clone Duncan said to the others as he got back through the portal and threw himself down to sit on the bed.

Simon watched from his seat at the computer as Hannah emerged. “You are insufferable!” She accused pointing a finger at Duncan standing next to Lewis eliciting a laugh from the four men present. 

Duncan whipped his head around to look at his clone lounging on the bed. “You just HAD to bait her didn’t you?” He received nothing but an eye roll in response from his clone and a squeak from Hannah as she realised there was more than one of him. 

“Ignore them, they’re idiots.” Lewis’ statement eliciting a shout of indignation from both Duncan’s. “He can clone himself.” He went on to explain to the blonde girl. 

Hannah nodded in acceptance. “Not a power I've seen before.” She supplied as she took in the room. It was most definitely a teenage boy’s room, posters covered all the wall space, a wash basket was overflowing in the corner next to a desk littered with Xbox and PC game boxes and controllers. Lewis motioned with a hand to a sofa under the window, Hannah sat gently following the progress of the others in the room with her eyes. 

“So, this idea of yours?” Simon asked, shuffling the desk chair closer to the sofa where Lewis and Hannah were sat.

“I have a few friends who I don’t get to see often because they live too far, they either cant or aren’t allowed to perform a relocation spell on their own to be able to come visit and I can’t do one either, not that my mother would let me.” 

The boys shared a look before Lewis spoke. “And you want us to be able to practice magic together?” 

Hannah nodded a little. “Yes and no… I want to start a community, you guys have each other and that is really cool and nice but for the rest of us…” Hannah paused and ran her fingers through her hair. “It’s lonely. I go to normal school but I can’t have friends over the house, I can’t even make proper friends because I have to be careful what I say around them all the time. One slip up and I’m labelled a freak or worse.” 

Simon nodded along. “I was the same, before I moved here.” 

One of the Duncan’s spoke. “It would be nice to be able to speak to other people with powers.” 

“Yeah, apart from you arseholes.” The second Duncan finished with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do we think people?


	4. I'm Sorry Ross...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm Sorry Ross...

It was like his skin was too tight, his muscles bunched and flexed trying to stretch more room, hands curling and uncurling into fists as he rolled his shoulders trying to ease some of the tension radiating through his body.

His head was pounding and he had been running a fever, one of the caseworkers had excused him from school but he didn’t exactly feel sick. He felt strong and energised, it felt like his whole being was electrified, everything seemed to be vying for his attention, smells and sounds jumping into his brain, painting a vivid picture of what was going on everywhere in the building. 

He had been pacing for a while, feet wearing a shiny line into the thin carpet, before he forced himself to sit at the old rickety wooden stool that served as his desk chair and stabbed at the button to bring his clunky, second hand computer to life.

He couldn’t sit still, his legs jumping against the floor as he typed out his thoughts as fast as he could onto the old, yellow stained keyboard. A million ideas at once sparking in his brain that he just had to get down before they vanished. 

“Ross, back to bed, you’re meant to be sick.” The shout from the open door startled him out of his focused typing. 

“I feel alright now think I might need some fresh air actually.” He answered in one rushed mumble before practically leaping from his chair to push passed and leave the room. He ignored the shout for him to come back as he thundered down three sets of stairs in quick succession. 

Janine, the head of the house stepped into his path as he reached the large front door. “Where do you think you are going?” 

“I need to go out.” Ross tried his best to speak clearly and with respect as he eyed the short greying woman before him. 

“You also needed to go to school this morning, you cannot always get your own way Mr Hornby, back to your room, now.” 

 

It wasn’t until he was outside that he analysed what had just happened between himself and ‘the warden’ as the children called her. A rage had overcome him like nothing he had ever experienced, Ross was no stranger to anger but this was something different. He had growled at her through his teeth before telling her to get out of his way, and she had done it, a look of terror on her face. 

Being outside felt better, he jogged away from the large house and made for the park, once there he sank down onto a bench, his hands coming up to bury themselves in his hair. What the fuck was wrong with him? He should not have done that, all he was doing by causing shit with her was ruining his chances of being able to stay, if she deemed him a threat he would be out on the streets with nothing to his name before he knew it. They weren’t obliged to house him anymore and one wrong move could have him in a rundown bedsit working all the hours god sent in some crappy retail job just so he could afford to feed and clothe himself. 

It was starting to get dark by the time he had stopped beating himself up for losing his temper. The restless need to be outside and moving was still present but he couldn’t give in to it. He needed to get back to the house to apologise and hope he hadn’t fucked everything up. 

He sighed in a dull sense of relief as his knees cracked when he got up, easing a pressure that had been building in the joints and started back through the park towards the house, his steps slow and measured in a subconscious effort to prolong his stay outside. 

 

He hadn’t yet reached the edge of the park when it hit.

Excruciating lances of pain had him crying out into the night as he doubled over clutching at his stomach. Ross’ vision blurred as his eyes watered in response to the agony coursing through him. Screwing his eyes shut he fell to his knees, his mind was screaming at him, his bones were on fire within his body, white hot rods under his skin shifting and shattering as he tried to curl in on himself. 

Every nerve ending in his body throbbed at the speed of his racing heart. His throat constricted feeling like it was closing up, something shifting around inside to stop his screams from being released into the night. 

He fought, with everything he had to keep himself going, this couldn’t be the end. He couldn’t die here, in the cold darkness alone, not when he had barely lived. So he struggled against the pain, his thrashing body and heavy breaths the only sounds in the abandoned park. 

His vision darkened as he screwed his eyes up, opening to reveal a world in sharp focus, details jumping out at him in the darkness that his rational mind tried to tell him he shouldn’t be able to see with the light level so low. 

He isn’t Ross anymore, he isn’t anything but pain, there is nothing except the agony, and time has ceased to exist. 

The last feeling he is actually aware of is the stuttering feeling in his chest which spreads a welcome cold that numbs his blood in his veins before his heart finally gave up and fell still in his chest.

**********

He awoke to the feeling of cold metal touching his wrists and a voice shouting at him to not resist. His arms were forced in front of him and he was pulled to his feet, a rough blanket was thrown around him and he clung to it, trying to keep it closed with the limited movement the handcuffs afforded. 

His toes curled into the grass beneath his feet as he tried to figure out where the fuck he was and what the fuck had happened. 

Why was he naked, in a park? His brain wasn’t up for any kind of analysis at the moment, he ached all over, in places he didn’t even know could ache. It was almost like a hangover, the world was fuzzy and his head throbbed, his mouth was dry and his throat scratchy. 

One of the officers took his shoulder in a vice grip to lead him towards the entrance to the park, Ross stumbled along the pain in his feet as they came into contact with the gravel path helped to clear his head a bit. 

His head was forced down as the officer tells him to get into the back of the car. Ross complies with a squeak as he falls into the car, his face connecting with the back of the front seat as he falls. 

**********

He was numb, he had been questioned and clothed and left in a cell for almost forty eight hours before they came for him. 

The mousy looking man that Ross recognised from his last care review meeting came to the station to collect him. Ross was silent as he climbed into the man’s old, beat up Ford Fiesta, the man didn’t start the vehicle immediately, instead turning in his seat to look at Ross. 

“I’m afraid we need to go collect your things, then I will be taking you to London road.” Ross still didn’t know the man’s name, so he just gave him a blank stare until he turned back in his seat and started the engine. 

London road was where the others went, the kids who didn’t get to stay at school and have a chance of actually bettering themselves, London road was where the druggies and trouble makers who had been in and out of correctional facilities throughout their lives were dumped to fend for themselves. 

How he managed to keep himself together during the drive and subsequent packing and expulsion from the only place he had been able to call home in years, he would never know. 

The breakdown happened when he was sitting on a ratty old mattress on the floor, in a room smelling of old weed and mildew, hugging his meagre belongings to his chest and letting go of each and every one of his dreams one by one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was HARD to write... 
> 
> please let me know what you think :)


	5. Yogtowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah, Lewis and Duncan get the ball rolling

Finding a suitable place for them all to meet had been difficult, they were trying to find somewhere inconspicuous but with modern facilities like fast internet, running water and climate control. 

It had been Simon’s friend Turps who had come up with the idea to look into office buildings, saying that no one would bat an eye at an office full of workers coming and going at all hours, especially if they had a good fake company who worked internationally to account for the variety of people who would be frequenting. 

Lewis made the final decision to settle on Bristol, it was a large city and had the advantage of not being where anyone who was going to join their ragtag group, lived as well as the fact that office space was relatively cheap to rent in the more industrial areas of the city. 

Acquiring the paperwork and credentials had been easy due to one of Duncan’s online friends, Dave’s power, an affinity with machines and computers was perfect for them, planting information in all the right systems to have the lease started with no questions and no need for physical meetings with estate agents, installation engineers or even the delivery men with the furniture. All of it was done without any of them having to lift a finger or speak to any adults. 

They had spoken, of course, about if they should tell any of their parents what they were going to do, a long drawn out conversation in a custom steam group chat where no non magical people could see. The consensus was that this was too important and needed for so many of them to risk telling someone and having that person stop them from going through with their plan to connect all the magical kids they knew with each other. 

**********

They had been at it for three hours, Lewis going from office to office creating portals, Duncan’s clones going through to make sure they were to the right place and were stable. Hannah and Simon had been offering mostly moral support and talking to each person via skype before the portal was set up and tested. 

Hannah eyed Duncan and his clones lounging around the room in various maniacal states, there were currently four of them in the room, including the original. The three copies pulling faces at Hannah when she met their wide, wild eyes. 

“The longer they’re out, the worse they get.” Simon supplied to the blonde who had looked away from clone number two with a roll of the eyes. 

Hannah scrunched her brow. “But that one…” She said pointing to the last incarnation that had been brought into existence. “…Has only been out for fifteen minutes and he is worse than the first one.” As if to prove her point clone four proceeded to try and make fart noises with his hand clamped under his armpit.

The real Duncan was the one who answered. “The more I have out at once, the faster they deteriorate.” 

Hannah nodded back in understanding. “Maybe you should both stop for a bit?” She suggested eyeing Lewis who had just re-entered the room looking sweaty and exhausted. 

“Lewis man, time for a break.” Simon called to the dark haired boy who dropped his shoulders in response before shuffling over to a chair and falling into it, a fourth clone of Duncan’s entering the room a few seconds later. “You gonna…?” Simon asked gesturing to Duncan. 

Duncan surveyed his doppelgangers and contemplated reabsorption but the childish whining from the clones had him hesitating. “Fine!” He snapped at the closest copy of himself. “Go to the other room or something though until you’re done.” 

The clones all grinned in unison, causing the hair on the back of Hannah’s neck to stand up and a chill to sweep through her. “Well that was creepy.” She breathed as the last clone had hurried out of the room. 

Duncan met Hannah’s gaze with a sigh. “Sometimes it is just easier to wait for them to vanish on their own than to force them.” 

Simon barked a laugh before supplying some context. “This one time, there was six of them out and they were arguing about something stupid and so they decided to settle it by starting an impromptu fight club.” 

Hannah raised her eyebrows. “Seriously?” 

Duncan groaned, his brain calling forth the memories from that day to the front of his mind. “It wasn’t funny Simon, it hurt.” 

Simon rolled his eyes. “You didn’t have to feel the full brunt of it mate, feel sorry for the clones who got their teeth knocked in.” 

“You feel what they feel?” Hannah questioned. 

“To an extent, I can block most of it out but if I concentrate I can remember everything any of them have ever done or thought or felt, but it is a bit duller, like a really old memory.” 

Lewis snorted a laugh at Hannah’s thoughtful expression. “Go on, ask what you want to ask.” He said with a wink. “What else have you done with your clones Dunc?” 

“Fuck off Lewis!” Duncan shot back with a blush as Simon lost it and started laughing. 

Hannah let out a shriek, covering his eyes with her hands. “I don’t think I need to know what Duncan has or hadn’t done with himself thanks!” 

**********

It was almost midnight be the time they were finished, as the day had worn on Lewis had needed longer breaks between castings, the last two hours had only consisted of one final portal, the one for Duncan. 

“So, we’re all meeting up tomorrow right?” Lewis confirmed looking from Simon to Duncan to Hannah. 

The blonde girl nodded in response. “Six pm, I will come along with Trott and Smith early to set up chairs and stuff so we can all get to know each other.” 

Simon let out an amused huff of air. “All I have in my head right now is some kind of AA meeting.” 

Lewis snorted a laugh. “Hi, my name is Lewis and it has been 24 hours since my last cast…” 

Hannah smirked at the boys antics. “It’s not a terrible idea you know. Each person says their name, powers, maybe hobbies or something too?” 

“Sounds good to me.” Duncan replied with a yawn. 

Simon caught the yawn, stretching he got up from his seat. “Right, I am going home.” He announced as he walked towards the door, the others following him with their eyes. “See ya later shitlords!” He yelled as he rounded the corner out of sight, heading for ‘his office’ where the portal to his bedroom awaited.


	6. Wanderings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ross still isn't having a great time...

He lasted less than a week in London Road. 

The first night he couldn’t sleep at all, the shouts and drunken laughs from the room next door were too loud and sporadic as they boomed through the paper thin walls. 

Ross huddled on his bare mattress in the corner of the room, staring at the door and trying not to jump in terror whenever an especially loud noise would puncture the air.

He could hear screaming from another section of the building, a couple arguing in what he assumed was a drug induced rage by the intensity of their shouts and the words mixed in between the profanities. 

He could hear a woman crying in a broken voice as doors slammed and his solitary window pane shook with the intensity. 

The worse sound by far, the one that had him pressing his ear hard to the mattress and a pile of clothes to his other ear to try and block, was the sounds of the children, crying high pitched and shrill until the resounding slap of skin taking a hit silenced them. 

**********

He was scared to leave his room and was thankful he had been at least afforded the luxury of a small closet sized room that contained a toilet and sink. 

The first time he ventured out was because of the need for food, he hadn’t eaten anything but a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar since his release from the police station and his stomach was getting painfully uncomfortable after two days. 

Ross made it as far as closing his door before he was accosted.

The boy looked to be around his age, shorter than him and suffering from a bad case of acne and in need of a bath, Ross noted with horror the blackened teeth and rancid breath indicating years of hard drug use. The smell of stale smoke and old alcohol had Ross forcing himself not to gag. 

The boy forced him up against the wall with a strength Ross would never had suspected, the smaller boy craned his neck to look Ross in the eye. “This is my place, new guy.” He spat, Ross struggled and looked away from his bloodshot eyes. “Twenty quid a week will get you a pass, you don’t pay and you will be got rid of, you get me?” 

Ross nodded vigorously, still not looking the boy in the face and sagging against the wall trying not to look as terrified as he felt. 

“Pay day is Thursday, no fucking excuses.” 

Ross didn’t move until the other boy had disappeared through a door at the other end of the hallway, taking calming breaths he tried to slow his heart rate to something resembling normal before the sound of a door opening had him snapping to action and leaving the building as quickly as possible. 

*********

For three days he searched anything and everything he could think of in the library, in books and on the free computers for answers. He woke early each morning, escaping London Road before the rest of the building awoke to arrive at the library as soon as it opened and he didn’t leave until being kicked out each night. 

The old man who sat all day at the checkout desk took pity on him on the second day, offering him a hot drink and some biscuits, trying to strike up a conversation with Ross about what he was researching. Ross skirted over the subject and said he was just searching for answers but he hadn’t found them yet, the old man had smiled and told Ross that if he needed anything to let him know. The tea came every couple of hours from then on. 

He had scoured every single search engine, in every single way he knew how, to try and find out what the hell had happened to him. The results were, quite frankly, laughable. 

There are only so many times you can ask a question, receiving the same answer over and over before you have to stop denying it. Ross had been bitten by a fairy tale monster and now he was one. 

**********

The second month brought with it memories of the wolf. The feeling of wind rushing past him as he leapt over rocks and weaved between trees on his night time adventure. 

He could remember the adrenaline coursing through his canine body as he chased a rabbit through a field on the outskirts of some northern mining town. 

 

He had wound his way up the country, living out of a large rucksack, having to use skills he had picked up from years in ‘the system’ but hoped he would never need, to steel food and find safe places to spend the long, cold nights. 

The further north he got, the bigger the open spaces. A feeling of freedom he had rarely felt in his sixteen years settling over him, making the sting of having no home, friends or security seem a little less sharp. 

Scotland seemed to call to him, he had never been, but the thrall of what was technically a different country was strong, imaginings of Scottish glens and camping out in natural, roughly hewn caves causing a rumbling contentment from the wolf inside of him. 

**********

The third month brought consciousness. 

He was still there.

Once the agony had subsided leaving a hard strength behind it, he was himself again. Not in body, that was something new, something sleek and purposeful and strong, but he was himself in mind. Ross was in control. When he told his front paw to lift, it did. 

It was like some kind of muscle memory, somehow he knew how to move in this body, strange new body parts shifting, feeling as natural as breathing.

Now he really felt it, the pure joy of running in a body that seemed built for it, nothing mattered when he ran, it didn’t matter that he had no one, it didn’t matter that he hadn’t talked to another living being in over three weeks, all that did matter was that he kept running. Through woods and fields and alleys, the light of the full moon the only source of light as he crashed through underbrush and leapt over streams. 

This was what ‘alive’ should feel like.


	7. Settling in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yogtowers is coming along nicely...
> 
> Reuploaded this as half of it didnt freaking go on the first time!!!

Within a month their number had grown to almost thirty and they had managed to get passed the awkward clique stage where friends stuck to each other like glue and eyed the ‘strangers’ with weary eyes. They had all relaxed into it, forming bonds with those they would never have had the chance of knowing before. 

Notice boards had sprung up, No one was sure who had placed the first but they were all over the room now, schedules for magic practices or gaming sessions jumping from the walls in bright colours detailing times and office names. 

One long strip of wall was dedicated to time zones so it could be easily worked out what time it would be at each individual’s home with minimal effort, people adding their names to their zone to let others know when they would be present. 

The whole place had been made a bit more personal, the artists among them creating their own posters to sit alongside the ones others had brought in to cover the bare walls. 

Computers lined the edge of the room, free for anyone to jump on and play on the network they had created at any point. Machines put together using spare parts scavenged from anywhere they could. 

Martyn, who had been introduced to the group purely through the internet and Dave’s searches had brought life into the room. Plants, brown and half dead had bloomed with life as he nurtured them with his magic. 

Everyone had a small office each where their portal home was situated and they could store belongings securely, Lewis the only one with a key to all the rooms in case of emergency. 

 

Weekends were always the best, the European majority of the group would all arrive in the morning, much earlier than any teenager had the right to be awake on days they didn’t have to be in education. They would stay all day, bringing food or ordering in from the surrounding area so they didn’t have to leave until night had fallen. 

The D&D sessions started on the second week, helping to cement friendships through quests and adventures away from their real lives where most of their number felt more comfortable as they now didn’t have the advantage of hundreds of miles and the option of reviewing their words before they were out. 

Trott was ecstatic, he loved Smith dearly as his best friend but Smith wasn’t a mage, he had mid-level magic that they had exhausted the possibilities of years ago. Now, Trott had other mages to try spells with, people to teach him what his mother should have over the years. People like Ridge, who just knew instinctively exactly how much power a new spell needed. Or Rythian, who had such a strong grasp of weather craft that he might as well be an elemental. 

**********

“You should go talk to him.” Zoey supplied as she pulled up a chair next to Katie who was scribbling away, hunched over a notebook. 

The Scottish girl stopped writing to meet the other girl’s eyes in a look of panic. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” The usual soft lilt in her voice coming through stronger than usual. 

Zoey smiled. “It’s just a suggestion, it will make both of you happy, I think.” With that she was gone, leaving Katie to stare after her in red faced embarrassment. 

Nilsey arrived just as Katie had managed to look back down at her notebook, face still burning. “You alright?” He asked, voice concerned.

Katie sat back in her seat, closing the notebook with a small thud. “Zoey just…” Her voice trailed off, not finishing the sentence. 

Nilsey raised his eyebrows but shrugged in acceptance. “Empaths, eh?” Katie just nodded back in response. “You ready to head back? Your parents are meant to be coming over to mine for dinner tonight and I was asked to make sure you come too.” 

With a shuffling of bags and belongings the two friends left for home. 

**********

Smith used his time to build relationships, he wasn’t too bothered with his magic. He had his active power and he had honed it over the years to be useful and powerful enough to rival even Trott’s magic. 

When Smith had found out, at the tender age of twelve, that he had a power, he had thrown himself into research with Trott’s help. There was a surprising amount of things you could do with telekinesis when you had a firm grasp on physics, when he had worked out how to control matter down to its molecular level he could create fire or freeze water, seeming to have elemental powers far beyond him. 

Smith was lucky, he knew this. He had been paired with Trott on their first day of high school and had built enough trust with him that by the time he manifested his power he was able to talk to Trott about it, Trott had then introduced Smith to the magic, showing him a whole world hidden from the rest of society that Smith had thought only existed with the pages of books or his favourite video games. 

 

Kim practically threw herself down on the sofa next to Smith. “Slow in here today.” She remarked, motioning to the empty room. 

“Will’s doing a lesson upstairs.” He replied bringing a hand up to run through his hair. 

Kim sighed. “If there is one thing I can say for our new friends, it’s that thy really do not conform to the lazy teenager stereotype.” 

Smith huffed an amused breath and nodded. “I know right? Here I thought it would be endless drunken parties and pregnancy scares.” 

Kim giggled. “I’m sure that is still to come, did you see the looks Lewis was throwing towards Hannah?” Smith shook his head. “He got it bad, man.” 

Turning, Smith shot Kim a huge grin. “What? Like you do with Duncan?” He asked wiggling his eyebrows at her. 

Kim punched surprisingly hard for such a small thing.


	8. Safe place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ross finds somewhere safe to stay for a while

Ross had tried to go further north but the increasing open spaces and harsh winds had forced him to return to a more urban area. He had stumbled across the cave by accident, trying to hone his now powerful senses, following his nose and ear and instincts to find somewhere he could camp out for the night. 

The mouth of the cave was well hidden behind overgrown bushes and moss covered tree roots. The soothing bubbling of water had urged him towards the entrance and had him pulling at vegetation to find its source. 

It was big inside and had obviously been inhabited previously, long before Ross had come along. The remains of a table and chair stood, half rotten in the far corner of the roughly rectangular space. Ross had ducked his head as he entered, making for the centre of the room. There was a section, around seven square feet of the cave where he could stand up straight without fear of banging his head on the ceiling, towards the back of the room was a small stream that meandered through a crack in the floor, disappearing into the ground at either side. 

It wasn’t anything special, but it was his. 

**********

The surrounding areas were beautiful and they gave Ross opportunities to acquire new items for himself without as much risk as in a town full of people, a mile or so east was a large camp site that bordered a loch on one side and the forest containing his new home on the other. 

One of his biggest hauls had come when he had been wandering on the other side of the forest, trying to map the land in his head so he wouldn’t accidently come across campers on the next full moon that was only a couple of weeks away. 

It was an abandoned caravan that had been dumped in a small copse of trees just off an overgrown dirt road. It was old and had obviously been standing for a while judging by the ivy that had grown around it but inside was a veritable treasure trove of items to help him, among them was the cushions from the benches that he could use to make sleeping more comfortable and a load of plastic bottles, something he would have not spared a glance at previously but now were invaluable. 

**********

Nights were the worse, he would lie on his makeshift bed and stare at the ceiling of the cave with the dying embers of the fire the only light visible, his mind roaming over memories of his life until he fell asleep every night, his hand clutching at the small trinket he kept around his neck at all times. 

Ross’ mother had been a sickly woman during her pregnancy, she had been fraught with illness and pain, bedbound for over half of the eight months that she had been aware of her condition. Ross’ grandmother had been very vocal about this towards the end of her life, telling the small boy that it would have been better had he never been conceived. 

He didn’t even know his father’s name, his grandmother never told him but he was unsure if she even knew herself. 

His birth had been what ended his mother’s life, he had no family other than his grandmother and so he was placed there once she was gone. He could remember a time before her mind had started to go, she had been gentle and kind back then, nurturing Ross into a confident little boy who was social and outgoing. 

As he had aged, she had changed. He wouldn’t figure out the reason until years later when he started learning about mental illness from other kids in the system. 

Social services already knew Ross well by the time she died, leaving him with no choice but to go to a group home. They had visited the old musty house with the 60s décor that screamed poverty for almost four years, investigating claims that Ross’ teachers and school nurse kept making of neglect and abuse. His grandmother would smile and offer them tea and biscuits whilst Ross sat, ramrod straight, a fake smile plastered to his freshly washed face as she would spin her tails, refuting every accusation with a flap of the hand, her voice full of emotion to fool them into dismissing the claims. It worked every single time. 

Ross sighed as he turned over on his bed, a quiet metallic clunk punctuating the air as he did. Ross pulled at the chord around his neck, he wasn’t entirely sure why he had bothered keeping the ring, it was broken for one thing, one of the four sapphires set along the band of silver conspicuously absent, it had been for as long as he could remember, even as a child he had noted the missing stone on the ring his grandmother never removed from her finger. 

He supposed it was nostalgia. Once upon a time, his grandmother had been someone he loved. She had been both mother and father until Ross was around seven and he had idolised her, the intervening years of torment shouldn’t erase that… should it? She couldn’t help how she acted once the illness took hold and she wasn’t herself anymore, he couldn’t bring himself to hate her for that any more. 

**********

As nice as it was to have found a place that was safe for him to call home, Ross was lonely. He could no longer venture too close to people, his appearance too disturbing for him to pass without attracting too much attention. His clothes were falling apart, they were old when he left London Road but now they were barely holding themselves together, his unkempt hair and scraggly beard had him looking like some kind of vagrant that caused people to cross the road to avoid him. 

 

The full moon came and he was ready for his self-imposed mission. Wolves couldn’t be arrested for stealing, so his plan was to obtain some new clothes, toiletries and creature comforts he was lacking. Whilst in his canine form he reasoned that even if caught, most people would either scream and run from him or try to shoo him off, even if someone was to try and attack him he could run much faster than any man. 

Ross emerged from the camp victorious, he had managed to pilfer new clothes from an empty tent belonging to a man with roughly the same build as himself. The shower block of the camp site was like a gold mine. 

 

The next morning was like heaven, using a slow running river he was able to bathe properly for the first time in weeks, shower gel washing away the dirt that had built up on his body leaving his skin tingling and pink.


	9. Casual magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More yogs chillin' and Katie finds something...

The room was quiet but for the scratching of pen on paper, real life had managed to creep into the office after a few months. People bringing homework and school projects in to complete in a place that felt, for most, to be better than home. 

The sound of plastic clattering on wood punctuated the quiet as a pair of glasses were tossed onto the table, this was followed by a loud thud and a yelp of pain, a groan of frustration finishing the sounds. 

Katie looked over at Nilesy’s messy hair, his face still pressed to the table top, reaching over she ruffled his hair once then patted him on the shoulder. “There, there.” She deadpanned. 

The dark haired boy let out another groan as he lifted his head. “Thanks so much for you sincere sympathy for my situation.”

Katie smiles sweetly at him. “You’re the one who decided that A level physics was a good idea.” Nilesy made an unimpressed face at her. “You made your bed man.” 

He didn’t answer straight away, instead taking time to sit back in his chair and replace his glasses. “Here!” He said, thrusting the paper under her nose. “Touch it and tell me the answers.” 

Katie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Can’t do the future, only the past, you know that.” Dejected, he slid the paper back in front of himself. “You should ask Smith, Chris says he is really good at physics.” Katie suggested as she picked her pen back up to continue her work. 

Nilesy’s eyebrows disappeared behind his floppy hair overhanging his forehead. “Chris now is it?” He replied, his tone mocking. 

The blush that spread on Katie’s cheeks contradicted the bored quality of her voice as she spoke. “Shut up, Liam.” 

Pretend shock marred his face, his mouth hanging open as he pressed a hand to his chest. “I have told you not to call me Liam…” Katie didn’t respond, just crossed her arms in challenge. “…Katheryn!” Nilesy practically shouted before jumping from his seat and leaving the room before he could be accosted for using her full name. 

**********

The library was getting bigger, practically every day someone would bring in a new book or scroll to add to the collection that had started originally in one of the smaller empty office’s but now had spilled out into one of the larger ones on the second floor. 

Kim was camped out on the floor, sitting with her legs crossed, surrounded by open books. “What about this one?” Duncan asked from a table a few feet away. Kim looked over in question at the boy who held his finger on the open page. “It goes into the history of the Inuit people and wolves.” 

Kim shook her head. “That’s spirit animals, it’s different.” 

Duncan closed the book carefully. “Sorry, I’m not very good at normal research when it doesn’t involve experimenting and blowing stuff up.” 

Kim smiled over at him. “No, it’s fine. The company is nice even if we aren’t having any luck.” Duncan returned her smile but didn’t say anything. “Thank you, for helping me with this, it means a lot.”

The grin she got from the blonde boy caused a fluttering in her chest as her heart sped up. “It’s my pleasure.” He replied. 

**********

“Sips!” Martyn’s shout carried across the room. 

Sips looked up from his and Sjin’s creation who was dancing a jig on the table between them to meet the blonde man’s stare. “What?” The Canadian man asked casually. 

Martyn strode the few feet over to them, Sjin sitting a little straighter and eyeing the boy wearily whereas Sips relaxed back into his chair and crossed his legs at the ankle, a perfect picture of ‘I don’t give a shit’. “Can you please stop stealing the bloody soil from the plants in here, if you really want some dirt go outside and get some normal mud.” 

Sips raised a solitary eyebrow. “Chill out, plant boy, it’s just a couple of handfuls.” He said gesturing to the tiny man shaped figure who was still doing some form of what could have been Morris dancing on the table. 

Martyn stared Sips down for a moment before turning his gaze to Sjin. Sjin smiled at the boy and waved a hand over the doll who immediately fell to the side, lifeless once again. Martyn took the figure in his hand and deposited it back in the plant pot. Once it was in place he turned back to face Sips who sighed an ‘okay fine’. Sips snapped his fingers and the doll fell apart, whatever magic that had been holding its shape nullified by the gesture. 

**********

On Wednesdays Nilesy and Katie would go to the woods. It was tradition, they had been doing it for years. 

There was a place where two rivers met and flowed into one where Nilesy liked to practice his magic, the fast flowing natural water much more challenging to work with than its still counterparts. Katie always tagged along to observe and if she was lucky she would find something she could practice with too. 

 

Katie flung herself down to sit on a fallen log, her search of the surrounding area having yielded no results for her. 

“There’s some bits at the bottom of the river I could dig out for you?” Nilesy suggested, the girls face brightened and she approached the river bank to stand next to her friend. 

The water slowed, its flow being forced to calm as Nilesy commanded it, he took a deep breath and as Katie watched, his face went blank. 

She waited in silence, watching the water as it swirled, turning a dark brown as the bed was disturbed by her friends magic before it became clear again. Within a few more breaths he came back to himself. 

Waves rocked the river as Nilesy lifted a huge water bubble, almost as big as himself out of the water. Katie stepped back but was still splashed slightly when he released it and the objects he had collected within fell to the floor. 

Katie eyed the pile and nudged a few bits with her foot, turning them over to examine without having to touch them. Looking around she found a stick and used this to prod more thoroughly through it. Nilesy went back to his practice. 

Something glinted, buried beneath a large black plastic bag, using her stuck Katie shifted the bag to the side of the pile to get a better look. 

Crouching, she reached a hand down for what was now visible as a small silver ring with one of its stones missing, attached though its middle to a long brown cord.


	10. Sapphire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The life of a sapphire in a ring... 
> 
> yeah... its weird... soz

As Katie’s finger connected with the cool metal she was suddenly else-when. A floating spectator without body observing the life of an inanimate object. 

Time was less than a concept to her now, years observed in moments as the earth shifted through centuries until the blue rock finally found its way to the surface to be plucked up by the first human hands it had ever encountered. 

Chipped away and cut at, Katie watched the gemstone be divided and followed it through time as it passed from hand to hand, from hairpin to necklace to ring and back again as it was set and re set until it was finally housed in the vessel she recognised. 

Katie saw as it waited in its glass case alongside other jewellery for months before it was snapped up by a young man with ice blue eyes and slicked back dark hair. 

Years flew past, snapshots being thrown into focus, wedding days and Christmas’ and the birth of a daughter. The girl grew to a teenager before the man died, leaving the woman and daughter alone in the world but they held strong. Together. 

The passing of years slowed, as if Katie’s gift wanted her to pay particular attention to the latter years. 

She watched the young girls belly swell in pregnancy and an illness take over, her mother doing what she could to keep her healthy but ultimately failing when finally her body gave out during the birth. 

The baby was loved, that much was obvious. He was doted on by the old woman who seemed to have focused everything in her being on him, happy and healthy, he grew for a time.

 

The edges were sharp now, dark and pulsing with a mist of confusion and anger. The old woman raged, fist and cane connected with flesh with cracks of painful intensity. The boy didn’t cry anymore, his ice blue eyes dull and lifeless as he took his beatings, seeming resigned to the fact that this was what he deserved. 

The words all bled into a swirling mass of hate and anger as they tumbled from cracked lips, a mind that wasn’t right spouting anything it could do damage the boy further. 

 

Then it was cold, so cold after so long being pressed against skin. Katie let out a breath she had been holding in her mind, the boy was okay, the old woman was dead, never to torment him again. 

More time swam passed, the boy wore it around his neck now, nestled against his sternum under clothes, hanging from a long brown cord. 

The feeling of being alone was a constant ache, he passed from home to home, trying to find somewhere to belong but he never fit. He was too old for adoption and never right for fostering, too angry and cynical to try to fit into someone else’s pre-existing family. 

If Katie could have cried whilst watching then she would have. Scars were left, mental and physical as he was shunted from place to place, always alone and always terrified.

The last place was nicer, he had stayed there longer. A place for older children on their way out into the world and finally a feeling of purpose was felt, a plan made and worked towards, some kind of peace and happiness descending for a while. 

 

The horror of the attack had Katie reeling and fighting against the vision, she didn’t want to see any more, the wolf was chasing him and she just knew he wouldn’t be able to get away. She could do nothing but observe in abject horror as the boy was pulled to the ground, she cheered as loud as she could in her own head as he kept fighting for his survival, a rock being brought down on the beasts head. A howl in the night had the wolf throwing the boy one last look before it ran off to find its brethren, leaving him unconscious and covered blood. 

Through the night his wounds closed, leaving shiny red marks where teeth and claw had ripped open flesh. The boy woke to the sounds of birds in the trees, his body tired and aching but without a mark on him indicating what had happened. 

Katie watched the weeks pass, the boy’s thoughts hardly straying from that atrocious night, other students and teachers had died but he was still here and he wasn’t sure how to process that.   
She saw and felt every bone and organ shift within him on the next full moon and despaired as he was expelled from what was the only home he had felt safe in, in years. 

Katie tried to retreat into her own mine to shield herself from the depression that settled over the boy, the new place was escaped from quickly but it left its marks on him. 

The vision took on a more hurried pace, as If it was trying to get to a point that it wanted her to see. Countryside sped by, snippets of stealth and petty thievery thrown at her as the boy travelled steadily north until he arrived at a place Katie recognised. The loch shining in the moonlight as the wolf looked down the hill towards the calm waters before it took off running through the forest at a speed that left the edges of her vision blurred.

He had taken to talking to himself, streams of consciousness whispered to an empty cave as he lay on a makeshift bed in darkness, night after night. 

The simple things mattered now, being clean and fed and safe at night. Things that Katie had never really thought about in her almost seventeen years, she got to experience the pure joy of being content with almost nothing, being glad when the rain stopped or the happiness that came from watching the stars on a clear night. 

The loneliness was an ever present thrum through him that the small interactions with locals and tourists couldn’t sate and if Katie had a body she would have been worried her heart would be breaking for him. 

**********

Nilesy watching in concerned fascination as Katie’s eyes glazed over, seeming to stare in the middle distance. Her face twisted in a plethora of emotions, expressions switching and changing faster than he could name them all. 

She came back with a large gasp of breath, leaning forward to rest her hands on her knees, chest heaving and heart pounding in her ears. 

“Are you okay?” Nilesy asked moving forward to take his friends arm and lead her to the fallen log to sit. 

Katie nodded and used a hand to push her hair out of her face. “That was…” She paused to find the right word. “Intense.” She finished.

Nilesy sat next to her. “It’s just a ring.” He observed eyeing the offending object that Katie still clutched. 

“There was so much pain and confusion.” Katie started. “We need to find Ross.” She said standing, an edge of urgency and panic to her voice.

The dark haired boy stood too, taking her by the shoulders. “Who the hell is Ross?”


	11. First Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First contact with Ross

“As far as I can tell, it’s exactly like you said.” Dave said turning in his chair to face the others in the room. “He was orphaned at birth, lived with his grandmother until she died when he was eleven but he had been known to social services for four years before her death, the reports are full of speculation but they could never pin anything down.” 

“That’s horrible.” Hannah gasped with a hand to her mouth. 

Dave simply nodded and continued. “After she died he went to a group home for a month, then he bounced around between foster homes and other group homes down south for almost four years, there’s more documents detailing why he was taken out of each on here but I don’t think anyone should read them.” He said looking to Katie, his mouth a thin line. 

Katie sniffed gently, trying not to draw attention to the fact that tears were streaming down her face, she didn’t need to know what was written, she had seen it all through her vision and it wasn’t something she cared to repeat. 

Trott turned at the sound from the girl next to him, huffing an angry breath at the world for letting things like this happen. He put his arm around the small girl and pulled her to his chest, she leant into the touch, wrapping an arm around his waist and burring her red face into his t shirt. “Anything after that?” Trott asked.

Dave shrugged a little. “He moved to the Morningside home for teens just before he turned fifteen and he was there until earlier this year. There is a mention of an incident in his file that since he returned from a camping trip with his school where some of the group was attacked and killed by some kind of large animal suspected to be an escaped bear or big cat he had been more withdrawn and secretive.” 

Kim snorted an amused huff from her seat on the arm of the sofa. “Was there anything in the news or online about the first full moon after that?” 

Dave shook his head again. “Not that I could find, the only reference is about Ross’ arrest the next morning.” 

“Arrest?” Smith asked, confusion evident on his face. 

“He was charged with public indecency for being found naked in a children’s play park.” Dave supplied. “He was then kicked out of Morningside and sent to a bedsit, that’s where the trail goes cold, I have nothing after that other than notes from social services and the landlord at the bedsit saying that when they went to check on him and get the rent he was gone and no one has seen him since, that was almost four months ago now.” 

The group eyed each other for a few minutes, processing the information they had been given. “How would we even approach him without scaring him off?” Nilesy asks the room at large. 

“Panda?” Dave asks looking towards the boy in question who is curled up on one of the armchairs, a cat purring in his lap. 

"I’ve never tried it on a werewolf but it doesn’t work when they’re in human form and it doesn’t work on shifters like Simon when they’re in animal form either.” Panda answered. 

Katie pulled away from Trott, swiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie. “I should go and speak to him, I feel like I know him already and I might be able to say something to get him to listen.” 

"You aren’t going alone." Trott announced firmly, looking Katie in the eye. A small smile crossed her lips at the protective tone of his voice. “Smith and I will come with you, I can prove to him about magic and Smith can restrain him or whatever if we need to.”

**********

Ross had looked everywhere for the ring, he had scoured every inch of woods trying to use his heightened senses to locate it but it was nowhere to be found, he did think he had caught his own scent a few miles downstream by the river but all he found was an old bin bag and a pile of old tat in just off the bank. He slunk back to his cave, resigned to the fact that he would never see the ring again. 

 

He smelt them before he heard them, creeping closer to the mouth of the cave he paused to listen. 

"Don’t touch his stuff!" A soft Scottish voice scolded, the slap of skin on skin indicating she had hit the offender. 

"Fuck! Shit Katie, I wasn't breaking anything." A male voice answered with a hiss. 

Ross could hear a third person sigh. "Just leave his shit alone Smith, are you sure he will be back tonight?" 

The girl answered. "He comes back every night before it gets too dark." 

Ross could hear footsteps going around the perimeter of the room as the three descended into silence. 

These people didn’t seem like a threat but they were in his cave and obviously expecting him which caused a spike of adrenaline through his blood, the wolf wanted to go in and defend his home but the human part of him was already trying to mentally let go of the belongings he knew were inside so he could just run and find somewhere else to live. 

**********

"It's fucking cold in here." Trott complained running his hands up and down his bare arms to try and put some warmth back in them. 

Smith eyed the other boy before clicking his fingers in the direction of a small fire pit in the middle of the floor, it roared to life, logs spitting embers as they ignited. “Better?” The tall boy asked Trott sat himself on the floor, hands held out towards the heat. 

Katie halted in her pacing around the room and settled down on the floor next to Trott. “Where do you think he is?” She asked with a sad look at the entrance to the cave where she could now see full dark had fallen. 

Trott watched Smith move around the space, too agitated to sit down. “Maybe we should come back tomorrow instead?” Trott mused. 

Katie shook her head vigorously, her red hair whipping around her face. “I am not leaving without at least talking to him, I can’t leave him here all alone now that I know.” 

“Couldn’t you try scrying for him?” Smith suggested. “You still have the ring right?” 

**********

The ring. They had his ring. Ross couldn’t put it off any longer, he had been listening to them talk, trying to decide if he should leave, confront them or just wait them out until they went away, but one of them had his ring and it was the only thing he had tying him to his mother and grandmother and a life before everything went to shit. 

He was at the mouth of the cave before he even realised he had moved, the wolf inside agitated at the thought that they had something that belonged to him. 

He paused before entering to map out the locations of their breathing in his head, two of them were in the middle of the room, and the other was closer to the back wall, by the rivet of water that ran through the cave. 

“I don’t know who the fuck you people are but I know you’re in there and you have something that belongs to me.” He announced, keeping his voice low but loud. “I don’t want any trouble, I just want you to give me my ring and get the fuck out of my cave.” 

He heard a gasp from the girl and a scrambling sound of two people getting to their feet. “Ross? I’m Katie and I’m here with my friends Trott and Smith, I found your ring in the river downstream and I came to give it you back.” Her voice sounded strange, a careful tenderness that he had rarely heard directed to himself and he could sense no deception in it. 

He moved forwards through the mouth of the cave, entering the room, his eyes darting around taking in the positions of the people present. 

The girl was short with a kind face, she was smiling at him with wide blue eyes, and her bright red hair fell is soft waves down her back. “Hi.” She breathed out, her hands twisting together in front of her in a nervous gesture. 

Next to Katie was a boy, shorter than Ross by at least half a head but taller than the girl, he stood with an arm hovering close to Katie in a protective gesture that sent a pang of jealousy through Ross’ chest. 

The third person had come closer to the others as Ross had been announcing his entrance, he was taller than Ross by a couple of inches and had a mass of sandy coloured hair that stuck up in an organised chaos that suited him somehow. 

There was a few moments of silence as the group eyed each other. Ross smelt the salt before he saw a tear trickling down the girls face as she studied his face. “Are you okay?” She asked, her voice cracking slightly. 

Ross narrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “I’m not the one crying at a complete stranger.” 

Trott’s arm came up to wrap around Katie’s shoulder, she leant into the touch. “I’m not crying at a complete stranger, I know you…” Katie paused with a bite of her lip. “…This is going to be really hard to explain and you may not believe me but you are not alone, we are here to offer you a place somewhere you can be yourself and not live out in the middle of nowhere.” 

Ross crossed his arms against his chest. "I just want my ring back and to be left in peace.” 

It seemed they were at a stale mate, silence stretched out as Katie tried to piece together a compelling argument in her head, Smith was the one who broke the silence. 

“Fuck this, I’m hungry.” He announced, moving closer towards the group, Ross tensed as the quick strides of the other boy. “There’s a pizza place just inside town, how about we all go grab some food and talk about this somewhere that doesn’t look like the setting for a slasher film?”

Trott nodded as Smith spoke. “I could go for some pizza.” He answered before looking to Ross. “Not that this isn’t a nice cave and all mate but it is kind of creepy.”

Katie turned to Smith and gave him a beaming smile in thanks before raising her eyebrows at Ross who still stood stock still in the middle of the room. “Our treat?” She offered hoping that Ross was hungry.


	12. Pizza and a chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ross gets some answers

The restaurant was half empty and they managed to nab themselves a table in the back corner away from other patrons so they could talk freely. A waitress took their drink orders as soon as they sat down in the booth. 

Ross sat on the end, his instincts insisting that he had a viable escape route should he need it, Katie was next to him sitting next to the wall, Trott opposite her and Smith filling the last space across from Ross. 

The group hadn’t spoken as they walked from the cave into town, a tense silence had prevailed throughout. 

Katie fished in the pocket of her hoodie and pulled out the ring that had started it all, she placed it on the table in front of Ross who immediately snatched it up and threw the cord around his neck, tucking the metal under his t shirt to rest against his chest. 

“We… uh…” Katie sighed and leant an elbow on the table, chin resting on her hand. “What we have to say is going to sound crazy and weird but please just hear us out.” She implored. 

“Weird and crazy has kind of been my thing the last few months, so just say whatever it is you have to say.” Ross answered as the waitress arrived with their drinks. 

The waitress pulled out a notepad and looked at them expectantly. “What can I get you guys?” 

There was a scramble for menus and eyes scanned quickly over the shiny pages. The group rattled off their orders to the smiling waitress who repeated them before scurrying off in the direction of the kitchen. 

Katie folded her menu back up and pushed it to the side of the table. “Okay…” She said before taking a breath and sharing a look with Trott. 

Smith rolled his eyes at them, the gentle approach was getting them nowhere. “Short version.” Smith stated locking eyes with the dark haired boy. “Magic exists, we have powers, Katie found your ring and she got a vision, she told us and a few friends about it and so we came to find you and explain what’s happened and offer you a place in our group.” 

Ross’ eyes widened, betraying the otherwise unimpressed look on his face. He laughed mockingly. “You guys are mental.” He snorted at them. “If it wasn’t for the free food I would be out of here.” 

Trott shook his head slowly and ran his tongue over his teeth before smirking. “Wolf boy doesn’t believe us Smith.” 

Smith grinned back at him. “I think he needs a demonstration mate.” 

Katie sat up straighter throwing looks around the room to make sure they weren’t being watched. “Nothing big, yeah?” She said to the two boys. 

Smith rolled his eyes at her but watched Ross’ face as the ketchup bottle slid from against the wall to rest on the edge of the table in front of the dark haired boy. Ross looked like a rabbit in the headlights, his eyebrows raised and eyes wide. A few whispered words from Trott and the bottle was cycling through colours, from its original red to blue to green to yellow and back again. 

Katie cleared her throat and suddenly the bottle practically flew back to its original position, a little ketchup squirting from the spout as Smith used a little too much force, a squeak from Trott and it was back its standard red colour. 

The waitress hadn’t noticed anything amiss as she had been busy confirming whose order was whose and placing them down in front of the appropriate person. “Enjoy your meal.” She said before walking away again. 

Smith reached for a slice of his pizza and raised an eyebrow at Ross. “Alright there mate?” He asked before taking a bite with a smile. 

Ross took a long breath through his nose to steady his racing heart. “Did…?” 

Trott smiled at him around a mouthful of pizza. “You aint seen nothing yet mate.” 

**********

Ross sat back in his seat, his hand reaching out to drain the last of his drink. “So, you’re telling me there’s this whole other society hidden out there that has powers and shit?” 

Smith nodded. “Yeah, Pretty much.” He answered. “It was weird for me to, Trott and Katie were born into it but I didn’t find out until I started manifesting my power when I was about twelve.” 

Ross looked to the others. “Is that how you met?” 

“No, Smith and I went to the same school and he was freaking out about his powers so he told me and showed me what he could do, after that I told him about myself and he started research into his power through some books I managed to get hold of from another friend.” Ross nodded along as Trott spoke, showing he understood. 

Katie continued. “Sometimes the magic runs in families and generally the families get together every so often to catch up and swap spells and stuff.” 

“The magical families’ thing is a bunch of hierarchical bullshit, new families haven’t been accepted for generations and so the meetings have been getting smaller and smaller over the years.” Trott says flicking his hair out of his eyes. 

"And that’s where we come in.” Katie smiles. “A bunch of us decided that we needed more interaction with other magical people so we found a place where we can all hang out and then went about finding everyone we could who is about our age with powers.” 

“It’s been going for a good few months now and it’s brilliant.” Smith grins at him. “We use portals that one of our members made to travel between our houses and the office and we can just go hang out there.” 

"What so you made yourself a Hogwarts or something?” Ross asked. 

Smith snorted a laugh through his nose but it was Katie who answered. “It’s a place where we can practice magic if we want, but mostly it’s a place where we can be with people that we don’t have to hide a part of ourselves from, a place where we aren’t labelled freaks and loners because we have to keep our distance from ‘normal’ people in case we slip up and use our powers.” 

“Are there many of you in this office then?” Ross questioned. 

Trott made a non-committal hand gesture. “Almost thirty right now but you are the first we have found who none of us knew before hand.” 

Ross sat back in his seat, trying to wrap his head around all the information they had been supplying him with. “So, you mentioned there was another wolf in your group?” 

Trott nodded. “Yeah, Kim.” He said. “She comes from one of the old families through her father’s side so she has some mage abilities but she doesn’t really bother with magic much.” 

“Has she always been a wolf then or does it not work like that?” Ross questioned. 

Katie shook her head at him. “There’s legends of hereditary wolves but no one seems to know if that’s just a fairy tale or if it was real.”

Trott looked at the table as he spoke, his voice losing some of its animation. “Kim was bitten when she was five so she had been living with the wolf for as long as she can remember.” Trott did not continue speaking instead he wiped his hands on his jeans and nudged at Smith. “I need to piss, let me out mate.” 

Smith did as he was asked, watching Trott amble off with a sigh before sitting back down. Ross was looking towards the toilets with concern. “Is he okay?” 

Smith stirred the ice around the bottom of the glass with his straw. “He’ll be fine, just… don’t question Kim about how she was turned and don’t ask Trott about it, it’s a sore subject and he hasn’t even told me the full story.” 

Ross shot another furtive look towards the toilets but didn’t question further.


	13. Yogstowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ross goes to Yogstowers

Ross was not prepared for the feeling of going through the portal. The others had done it so often the past few months that the memory of dizziness and nausea had dulled as time went on. 

Ross bent over with his hands on his knees to take some deep breaths. “Fuck! That’s horrible.” He complained eyeing the others who didn’t seem to have been affected in the slightest. 

Straightening up he surveyed the room. It wasn’t large but there was room for a desk which housed a computer set up, some shelves and cupboards lined one of the walls, the back wall was bare except for the portal and the one opposite housed the door. 

Katie pulled a small bunch of keys from her pocked and proceeded to unlock the door, once done she paused with her hand on the handle and looked towards Ross. “You ready?” she asked. 

Ross took a deep breath through his nose. “As I’ll ever be, I guess.” The butterflies in his stomach protested against his reply but he tried to ignore them as best he could as he followed the others out the door and into a long corridor with other offices branching off it. 

The walls were adorned with posters, an eclectic mix of bands displayed next to game and movie posters of all genres. Each door they passed had a small name plate in the middle of the door, Ross assumed a lot of the names were nicknames as he passed one for ‘Bebop’ then another for ‘Strife’. 

Katie led them to a door in the middle of the hallway which had no name plate; she knocked twice but entered without waiting for a response. The group filed into the room and split to fill sofas and chairs scattered around the large room. 

Ross stood just inside the door, scoping out the people who had already been inside. There were four of them in total. “Ross, this is Simon…” Katie said gesturing towards a large boy with ginger hair and a face full of stubble who smiled at him, showing a gap in his front teeth, Ross nodded at him in greeting “…and this is Lewis….” She announced. Lewis was sitting by a computer with headphones around his neck, obviously he had been playing a game before they had arrived, the pause screen was visible on the monitor behind him. “…And that is Duncan and Zoey.” Katie finished indicating a tall blonde boy and skinny brunette sitting together close to the door. 

Ross held a hand up in greeting, unsure what to say. Lewis pulled the headphones from around his neck to go over to Ross. “Welcome to Yogstowers.” He smiled, holding a hand out for Ross to shake. 

Ross took Lewis’ hand for a moment and shook it. “Thanks… It’s uh…” He struggled for a moment to find the right words. “…It’s a really cool place you guys have here.” Lewis beamed at the praise and thanked him before telling Ross to make himself at home. “So what now?” Ross asked, looking to Trott. 

Zoey stood and made her way over to where Ross was pulling out a chair to sit on. “Now we see what happens when two wolves meet.” She explained with a gentle smile. 

Duncan had also stood when Zoey had but he went towards the door. “I’ll go get Kim, you ready?” He asked looking at Zoey and Smith in turn, both nodded at him before he left the room. 

Zoey turned to meet Ross’ eyes. “If things get heated I’m going to send out some calming vibes, okay?” 

“What?” Ross asked, confusion colouring his voice. 

“Did you tell him anything?” Simon asked Katie who let out a sigh at the question. 

“We didn’t want to tell him everything all at once and overwhelm him.” Katie answered Simon before turning her attention to Ross. “Zoey is an empath, if you or Kim get riled up then she should be able to calm you both down.” 

"And if that doesn’t work..." Smith said. "...Then I can keep you guys from getting anywhere near each other." 

Ross still looked concerned so Lewis clarified. “It’s just a precaution, we aren’t sure what will happen when you meet and we just want to be safe.” 

“You make it sound like this could get dangerous, am I going to go mental at the sight of her or something?” Ross shot back, eyes wide. 

“I guess we'll find out.” Trott interjected as the door swung open. 

********** 

Kim wasn’t sure what to expect when she walked into the room, her research into wolves meeting for the first time was practically zero thanks to the fact that there just wasn’t information readily available on werewolves other than the made up facts in fantasy novels and movies. 

 

There was a tension running through the room that instantly put the wolf inside on high alert, her eyes darted around the room to reassure her that all her friends were safe. 

Something animalistic and primitive swam to the forefront of her mind as her nose picked up the scent of what she instinctively knew was another wolf. 

********** 

Zoey watched, fascinated as Kim and Ross looked each other over. Kim stood stock still just inside the doorway; Ross had risen slowly to his feet, movement’s fluid when Kim had entered the room. 

“Wh…” Someone tried to speak but Zoey put up a hand to halt them, everyone seemed to get the message to stay still and quiet. 

Ross cocked his head to the side as he studied Kim and she mirrored him from the other side of the room. 

The feelings coming from the two wolves were nothing but curiosity and quiet excitement, she couldn’t sense anything dangerous so she again held a hand up to the others when Ross and Kim started to move towards each other. 

********** 

Ross stopped a foot or so in front of the tiny girl, looking her over again before their eyes finally met. 

 

It was like there was a wind rushing through his brain, her eyes were dark and it felt like he was being pulled in by them, his upper body leaning down without conscious thought. 

Their faces were only five or six inches apart when her eyes flashed a startling gold like the first rays of morning sun. A sound escaped the girl, a low, rumbling growl from the back of her throat that Ross returned without meaning to. 

Ross smirked at her, a large grin which showed as many teeth as possible, Kim returned the look and they stood for a few long moments holding their stare. 

********** 

Someone sneezed and suddenly it was like a spell had been broken, Ross straightened his posture as he blinked hard and shook his head to clear it of the fog that had settled over him. 

Kim seemed to be experiencing the same disorientation, she ran a hand through her short black hair and let out a large breath before looking up at him again, smiling gently. “Hello.” She breathed out as she extended a hand to him. 

Ross took the small girls hand in his own, goose bumps rising on his arms as a spark of what felt like recognition ran up his arm, sending a warm feeling spreading through his chest. “Good day.” He replied before they let their hands fall apart and turned to look around at the others in the room.


	14. New home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ross finally gets some good things happening to him

Trott broke the silence with a laugh. “That was fucking weird.” He announced to the room as a whole. 

Kim raised an eyebrow at the Trott who was now lounging back into the sofa. “You just wanted us to fight, you confrontational bastard.” 

Smith snorted a laugh before he put in his own dig. “Or bang!” 

Trott broke out into a full on laugh at Ross’ face going red and Kim’s murderous look towards Smith. “What?” Smith asked. “It was always a possibility and it would have been funny, I wouldn’t have actually let you guys do it.” 

“You’re an asshole.” Kim said before turning and leaving the room, Duncan following her out. 

Katie levelled Smith with a dark look. “Really?!” She asked, her voice high. 

Zoey spoke up before he could retort. “That might have actually been a good thing to be fair.” She said with a smile. “Duncan is now worried that Kim likes Ross so he might actually grow a pair and tell her how he feels.” 

“See!” Smith said leaping to his feet, pointing at Katie. “I’m helping!” He continued, defence colouring his voice. 

Katie rolled her eyes at him but said nothing. 

**********

Ross found himself relaxing, a feeling that he hadn’t experienced since before the attack. These people were so welcoming and treated him just like they did each other, it was strange for the dark haired boy not to be made to feel different and it brought a constant smile to his face. 

Trott stretched and glanced at the clock on the wall. “I should head back home before my mom finds out I’m not there.” He yawned, standing from his seat. 

Ross watched without comment as the others in the room stood, agreeing that it was time for them to leave too. 

Katie appeared in front of Ross, holding a hand out to help him up. “Come on, you can crash at mine tonight and we will sort you out a place tomorrow.” 

Ross shook his head at her. “I can go back to my cave, its fine.” 

Katie quieted further protest with a stern look. “It’s freezing cold outside, you are not sleeping in a cave.” 

“I’d listen to her if I were you.” Nilesy advised. “You do not want a pissed off Littlenom on your hands, she’s scary when she’s mad.” 

**********

The portal led them into a small dark space, Ross’ head bumped the ceiling with a hollow thump as he tried to straighten up. 

“Sorry!” Katie said. “I should have warned you about the wardrobe, if you push the door behind you we can get out.” She advised.

Ross stumbled out of the large piece of furniture. “You put the portal in your wardrobe?” He asked turning back to stare at the open double doors, one of which housed the deep blue portal. 

“It seemed like the best place to hide it.” Katie defended, pushing the doors closed. “Make yourself at home, I’ll get you a blanket and pillow, the sofa pulls out into a bed.” 

Ross watched her leave before examining the room. It was big, much bigger than any bedroom Ross had ever been in, the walls were decorated a warm cream, interspersed with paintings and cork boards displaying what looked like hundreds of photos. 

The sofa was small, a two seater in red with a black handle on the side indicating where to pull to get it to turn into a bed. 

Katie re-entered the room just as Ross managed to get the sofa to cooperate and actually fold out flat. Katie dropped the blankets onto the new bed with a small smile. “I found a spare toothbrush in the guest bathroom.” She informed him before collecting some clothes for herself out of a second wardrobe standing next to the one they entered through.

**********

Ross sat with his legs under the blanket, his attention flitting from the TV to his conversation with Katie. 

“How exactly did you find me? I still don’t understand.” Ross asked looking over at the bed where she sat. 

“It’s a long story, you sure you want to hear it tonight?” She replied.

Ross nodded at her. “I don’t think I can sleep right now anyway, but if you need to sleep then I can wait.” 

Katie slid out of her bed and muted the TV, walking over to the sofa bed where Ross sat. Ross shifted his legs as she sat down with her back to the TV opposite him. “I don’t think I explained how my power works before so…” She started, Ross nodded in agreement so she continued. “… I have a degree of control over when my power does and doesn’t work but I can’t always stop getting a vision.” She paused to ensure he was still listening. “It’s called psychometry and basically when I touch an object that had been close to emotionally powerful events I can see its life.” 

Ross’ eyebrows shot up. “You can see an inanimate objects life?” 

Katie scrunched her nose up. “I see stuff that’s happened around it or to the people who have owned it and stuff.” 

Ross studied his hands folded in his lap for a second, debating with himself if he really wanted an answer to the next question burning in his brain. “What did the ring show you?” 

Katie waited until Ross looked up to meet her eyes. “I saw a lot of stuff and I swear I only told the others the bare minimum so we could verify the information and even then it was only Dave who saw the reports.” 

Ross let out a huge sigh and buried his face in his hands. “Everything?” 

Katie wet her lips. “I saw how the ring was made, I saw your grandad buy it for your nan and every moment she wore it after, then I saw everything that’s gone on with you since you have had it.” 

Ross bit his lip, his face flushing. “I’m sorry you had to see…” He didn’t need to finish the sentence for Katie to know the various times he was referring to. 

“It’s not just seeing, I felt it too…” She said meeting his eyes again. “…Like I lived it with you.” 

Ross’ eyes widened, he had never told anyone about the things this girl now knew, he had never wanted anyone to know the horrific details of his fucked up existence, let alone this amazingly kind hearted girl who didn’t look at him in pity or disgust. He wasn’t sure what to say so he stayed silent. 

Katie shifted forwards on the bed to sit next to the boy, her back against the backrest/headboard of the bed. She didn’t turn to face him when she started talking, instead staring ahead into the middle distance with glazed over eyes. “Your grandad was a good looking man you know.” She commented, smiling to herself when she saw Ross turn to look at her out the corner of her eye. “Kind of looked like you actually, he was tall and he had dark hair like you and his eyes were exactly like yours.” Ross turned his head back but didn’t interrupt. “He was so excited when he found the ring, he just knew it was perfect for her so he decided that he would buy it even though it was more than he wanted to spend and that was kind of a big deal to him because he was pretty stingy when it came to luxury purchases…” 

Ross relaxed back against the bed, listening to the soft Scottish voice telling him stories of happier times until the sun rose behind the closed curtains, bathing the room in a rosy light. 

**********

Late the following morning Katie and Ross made their way back to Ross’ cave to collect his things. 

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to stay at the office?” He asked for what must have been the fifth time that morning. 

"Yes, we all agreed, the others are setting you a room up as we speak.” Katie replied watching as Ross gathered items into a large suitcase that she had found in a cupboard at home. 

Ross didn’t know what to feel about this new situation he found himself in. On the one hand he was ecstatic that he would have somewhere warm, dry and secure to live. The other hand however, was filled with guilt and shame at having to take advantage of his new friend’s hospitality without any way to repay them. “I’ll go and look for a job tomorrow.” Ross said as they climbed over a rock to exit the cave. 

“Let us get you settled before you go rushing into anything.” Katie replied as Ross turned to bid a silent farewell to his latest home. 

**********

“What do you think mate?” Trott beamed at Ross as he entered what was to be his new home. 

It was one of the larger offices, mismatched furniture was around the room. A dark wardrobe stood next to a pine chest of draws, two white bedside tables sat either side of the double bed with a black metal frame. The floor was mostly covered by a large circular cream rug, any space not covered showed the standard grey floor tiles that ran through the rest of the offices in the building. 

Smith beamed at him from the other side of the room, his arms outstretched in presentation. 

“This is fucking incredible.” Ross breathed out, his face splitting into a massive grin. 

Smith practically skipped over to Trott and the two boys slapped their palms together in a celebratory high five. “If you want to change the colours of stuff then speak to Hannah.” Trott supplied as Ross took some deep breaths through his nose, screaming at himself in his head not to cry. “She’s the best at glamour’s.” He clarified, oblivious to Ross’ internal struggles with his emotions. 

“Hey guys!” Ross spun to see Zoey poking her head in the door. “Smith and Trott, I think Turps was looking for you.” She said as Ross felt a warm feeling of calm wash over him from the door. 

The two boys thanked her and hurried out of the room. Zoey pushed the door gently closed behind her when she entered the room, as soon as it shut she pulled back her power and Ross’ emotions returned. “Sorry for intruding but it seemed like you needed some space.” 

“Thanks.” He said, trying and failing to smile at the skinny girl, his eyes shining with unshed tears. 

Zoey nodded tasting his emotions before reaching for the door handle again. “If you need anything then shout for me.” With that she left the room, closing the door behind her.


	15. More fun with a friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Ross and Kim wolf bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive thanks to Tamraj for all her help with this. You got my brain to kick itself into action with our chats Tam and i cannot thank you enough.

It was almost two weeks before Ross got the courage to approach Kim alone. He had so many questions he wanted to ask but if his life had taught him anything it was that sometimes it was better not knowing, sometimes ignorance really was bliss. 

He had spent so much time just hanging out with everyone in the office, when he couldn’t sleep he would wander out of his room to hang out with Bebop, Ridge and Will and try to master the smallest of spells under their tutelage with varying degrees of success. 

The spells were nothing though, compared to his hunt for knowledge about his own condition. There didn’t seem to be much out there about werewolves that he could find and the magic books in the office’s library weren’t much help. 

“Just go talk to her, all these books aren’t worth shit when you have a real life werewolf to talk to mate.” Smith criticised as he pushed aside one of the large volumes with his foot so he could approach the bed where Ross sat. 

Ross looked up from the page with a sigh. He knew Smith was right but the more research he did the more it seemed like being in close proximity with another wolf, especially of the opposite gender, was a bad idea. “I just…” Ross paused to try and order his thoughts. “I don’t want to fuck this up and have to leave.” 

Smith raised an eyebrow at him. “No one is going to make you leave, they’d have to go through me first.” He announced, quickly continuing when he felt his face heat under Ross’ softening gaze. “And Trott and Katie. Katie would rip them apart with her bare hands before letting you go mate.” 

Ross snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I’m not sure if it’s a Scottish thing or a redhead thing…” Ross trailed off and silence descended for a while. “Smith?” Ross waited until the other boy was looking at him before continuing. “Is Trott okay? He seems a bit weird the last few weeks…” 

Smith wet his lips and sighed, fighting the urge to look away from the dark haired boy. “No, but he will be. He just needs some space, this time of year is always pretty rough on him.” 

Ross closed the book on his lap and placed it on top of the pile next to the bed. “I get that something happened and I am trying not to pry but I’m worried about him and I want to help.” 

Smith took a deep breath through his nose. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know myself mate.” 

“What do you know?” 

Smith glanced at the closed door. “Look, I don’t have all the facts or anything but from what I do have, something happened to Kim, Trott and Hannah when they were kids. I have no idea what or where or when exactly but Kim got bit and the whole thing somehow ties into their families deaths a few years back, including Trott’s dad.” 

Ross narrowed his eyebrows in thought. “Shit, I didn’t realise his dad…” He hesitated. “I just figured since he didn’t mention him that like maybe he had left his mom or something.” 

Smith snorted a laugh. “Markus Trott, a deadbeat dad? That man was the furthest thing from that I think I have ever seen.” 

Ross smiled, imagining a young Trott with one of those perfect movie fathers, playing games and going to the park to fly kites or have picnics. “What about you Smith? You don’t talk about your family much either.” 

“Not much to say really, dads a douche who left us when I was a toddler to make a new family with some blonde half his age and my mom works a lot to make sure we can pay the bills and stuff. Pretty standard boring life mate.” 

Ross watched Smith as he talked, there was a sad quality to his voice, like acceptance that he didn’t expect anything better. “You’ve got us though.” Ross said, trying to cheer the taller boy. “All of us here, we’re almost like a family right?” 

Smith grinned at that. “Yeah, we are.” He agreed. 

*********

Ross found Kim swearing down a headset later that night after most of the others had left for the day. “That is cheating, you complete arse!” Kim accused, voice almost a growl. 

Ross couldn’t make out the responses even with his advanced hearing, it was just a mumble of sounds bleeding from the edges of Kim’s headphones. Ross knew Kim had sensed him approach, his own skin was buzzing slightly from being so close. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say Rythian, doesn’t change the fact that was a cheap trick!” Kim snorted a laugh at whatever Rythian had replied before placing her controller down on the desk in front of her. “I’ll speak to you later.” 

With the press of a button Kim left the server then pulled the headphones off and turned to look at Ross who was fidgeting in place as she examined him with her eyes. Ross took the stare, trying in vain not to move but not being able to help the slight tilting of his head when their eyes met. “Can I talk to you?” 

Kim broke the eye contact with a nod. “Sure thing.” She replied uncurling herself from her chair, snatching up a bottle of water from the desk before walking across the room to settle herself on the large sofa. Kim sat back into the cushions, unscrewing the lid of her water bottle. “I assume you have questions for me?” 

Ross nodded. “Yeah, not sure what to ask or if any questions are rude to ask or whatever.” 

Kim took a swig of water before answering him. “You aren’t going to offend me Ross.” 

Ross licked his lips and asked the first question he had wanted answering since he realised what was happening to him every month was a permanent thing. “Does it always hurt so much or do you get used to it?” 

“The transformation?” Kim asked, Ross nodded quickly in answer. “Once you learn to embrace it, it’s not so bad.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Kim raised an eyebrow. “How much does it hurt when you turn back?” 

Ross shrugged at her. “I’ve never been conscious when it happens.” 

Kim nodded in understanding. “If it hurt as much as turning into the wolf then surely it would wake you up right?” She hypothesised.

Ross smiled, her argument made total sense and he felt a little stupid not coming to the conclusion himself. “Will you help me?”

“I’ve never tried to teach anyone before but I guess I can try.” She answered. “Full moon is in about a week right?” 

Ross glanced at the clock on the wall. “Five days, fourteen hours and twenty seven minutes.” 

Kim snorted in disbelief. “You will so grow out of that, at some point it is going to stop being the centre of your life.” 

“That sounds nice.” 

*********

“Are you sure you don’t want anyone to come with you to be on the safe side?” Smith asked looking between Kim and Ross with a worried expression. 

“We’ll be fine mate.” Ross assured him as he shoved a change of clothes into his rucksack. 

Duncan shared a look with Smith. “I think I should send a clone with you.” 

Kim stopped him with a look. “No Duncan. I don’t care if it is just a clone, do you really think I could live with myself if I maimed something that looked exactly like you?” 

Ross looked away from the intense stare off happening between the small girl and her blonde boyfriend. Evidently Kim won as Duncan let out a sigh and threw his hands up in defeat. 

“We’ll be back in the morning.” Ross said gesturing for Katie to lead the way. 

 

Katie escorted them back to her house through the portal and out of the back door, waving them off with a ‘good luck’ and reassuring smile. Ross’ senses took over, leading them both back to his old home. 

“Cheery.” Kim commented as she clambered over a few rocks to enter the dark cave. 

Ross scanned the room with a small smile, it seemed smaller and lonelier than he remembered. “It was nicer when I had a fire and stuff in here.” 

Kim made a non-committal sound and pulled her phone out of the pocket of her jeans to check the time. “We have about ten minutes.” 

Ross nodded, pushing his bag into the back corner of the room. “How do you want to do this?” 

Kim glanced down at herself. “Well, I am not ruining my clothes. I got this shirt in Japan and they don’t make them anymore.” Ross laughed as Kim stripped off her hoodie, folding it on top of her own bag before pulling off her shirt. “And don’t worry Hornby, I have no lingering curiosity to check out your naked butt so feel free to strip down, it’s much easier when transforming anyway.” 

Ross unzipped his hoodie slowly, contemplating telling Kim about his lack of interest in the female body. “You don’t need to worry about me checking you out either.” Ross started before panicking when Kim just raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. “Not that you’re not attractive, I mean, you are, but that’s not…” 

Kim held up a hand to stop him as she bent over double in silent laughter at the look on Ross’ face. “Oh man, you are so easy to wind up!” She breathed out between giggles. “I know mate, you aren’t into girls. I get it.” 

“What? How…” 

Kim snorted a laugh at him. “Dude, a girl knows these things.” 

Ross shrugged at her, not sure what to make of her last statement. Without further hesitation he began to strip. “Am I that obvious?” He asked, curiosity colouring his tone. 

Kim didn’t pause in undoing her jeans as she answered him. “No, not really, but I do think that might be why our wolves seem to be okay with each other.” 

"Seriously?" He asked, hopping on one foot to pull off a sock. 

“Yeah, when guy and girl wolves meet it’s meant to be this big sexual tension thing right? Because of the animalistic urge to pass on genes and whatever but we have been fine and I think it’s because my wolf has the wrong equipment to get your wolfs motor revving.”

Ross was surprised that when he turned around it wasn’t awkward. Kim stood naked, undoing her watch as Ross pulled off his last sock. 

“You remember what I told you?” Kim asked approaching him. 

Ross nodded. “Let it happen, relax, clear my head and give in to it.” 

Kim grinned at him and patted his forearm. “You can do this.” 

 

A tension rose, not between the two that stood in the cave but from the air itself, it settled onto skin that buzzed with a feeling almost like an electric current. Ross shivered as the hairs on the back of his neck rose before the feeling spread down his arms. 

Kim shifted from one foot to the other, shaking her arms out like some kind of athlete before a race.

The last thing Ross registered before the all too familiar first lance of pain was a whispered ‘here it comes’ from the girl next to him. 

**********

Ross had once thought that running in wolf form was the best thing he had ever experienced but being around his new friends kept throwing newer and better experiences his way. 

 

Kim was more like a feline than canine as she sped through the forest. Her body twisted and bent as she darted through the trees in front of him, her black haired form was hard to keep track of with his eyes so he relied on his other senses to follow her. 

He caught up to her at the shore of the loch, her chest heaving with pants as she looked out over the water reflecting a thousand stars. 

Ross sat on his haunches to scratch at his neck, Kim followed the movement with her eyes, seeming to be smiling at him. 

Tilting her head, Kim gestured to the loch.

Ross’ answer came when he bounded forwards, head-butting Kim’s side causing her to stumble into the cold water with a yelp. 

**********

Ross woke feeling much better than he ever had after the full moon. He was warm for one, which was a new thing, but he attributed this to the fact that Kim was draped over him, her face nuzzled into his neck and one leg thrown over his knees. 

Ross’ right arm was numb where it was pressed between Kim’s shoulder and the hard rock of the caves floor, he tried to wiggle his fingers, his arm shifting beneath Kim who groaned in response. 

Kim pushed back against Ross’ chest with both hands so she could look up at him. “Morning.” She said, voice a low monotone in the early morning. “How do you feel?” 

Ross tugged his arm free and sat up, clenching and unclenching his fist to try and get blood pumping into it again. “Surprisingly good.” And he was, there was an ache in his back that was more than likely from sleeping on the hard ground and he had the usual dry mouth and felt very much in need of a scalding hot shower but that was it. “Hungry though.” He supplied scratching at his stomach absentmindedly as Kim stretched out, joints popping. 

“Yeah, I’m famished, next time we should hunt.” She replied as Ross got to his feet to retrieve his clothes from the corner of the room. 

“Hunt?” He asked, pulling on his boxers. 

“Yeah.” Kim nodded, also rising to get dressed. “Once you get over the whole raw meat thing it’s actually really fun and it keeps the wolf really docile throughout the rest of the month.” 

Ross considered it as he dressed, pulling his jeans up his thighs. “We can try it I guess.” 

Kim's grin at his answer was infection and he found himself mirroring her, they both shouldered their bags and started walking towards the entrance to the cave. “Let’s get you back to lover boy before he blows a gasket.” 

Ross skidded to a stop. “What?” 

Kim rolled her eyes. “Don’t fucking deny it man, you and Smith are like the least subtle people I know.” Ross didn’t reply, just stood like a deer in the headlights. Kim sighed and pulled on his sleeve. “Grow a pair and kiss the boy.” Kim ordered as she tugged him along. “And don’t be so fucking clueless, you can smell the pheromones coming off him worse than Lynx Africa on a preteen for Christ’s sake!”


	16. Anger Management

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smith helps Ross deal with his anger issues

Ross took a long deep breath, closing his eyes as his chest expanded. He ran his tongue over his top teeth and let the air back out through his nose as he unclenched his fists. “We’re done.” He announced, fighting against himself as he forced himself not to look Will in the eye, instead his eyes slid to the ground in an effort to appear less threatening. 

Will nodded at him, trying not to react to the rumbling growl in the other man’s voice. 

Ross turned on his heel and fled the room, the door crashing against the wall when he used too much force to open it. 

The hallway was blessedly empty as he strode down it towards his own room and escape. He had been inside too long, adrenaline pumped through his body fuelling the white hot anger coursing through him. 

He didn’t even shut the door to his room as he half jogged to the portal and leapt through, escaping to where his whole life got turned around. 

 

The cave always calmed him, he could be himself here. This was the first place he was able to do that, be alone and himself and not have to worry about what he was doing to others just by existing. He had lost his temper again and he hated it. 

Before he got turned he had a handle on his temperament, he knew he was sensitive to others opinions but he had also mastered the skill of not showing it to other people but since he was bitten he couldn’t hide the anger anymore. 

Ross sighed and stilled his pacing, he wasn’t getting anywhere thinking himself in circles. He needed to do something. 

He sat down hard on the floor, his back scraping against the jagged wall as he slid down burying his head in his hands, fingers clutching at his short hair. 

 

The sound of rubber soles hitting stone caused an involuntary growl to escape the dark haired man as his head shot up, eyes wide in shock. 

Smith raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t approach, standing stock still in front of the portal. “Easy mate, it’s just me.” 

“Shit Smith, I’m sorry.” Ross breathed out hugging his knees to his chest and leaning his head back to rest against the cold wall. 

Smith waved him off and approached. “Come on mate, got something to show you.” He said holding his hand out to help the other man up off the floor. When Ross simply shook his head Smith spoke again. “It wasn’t a question, come on mate.” 

Ross resist the urge to roll his eyes at Smith’s easy confidence and instead pushed his heels further under himself and took the proffered hand to stand. “Where we going?” Ross asked as Smith, still clutching his hand, walked them both towards the portal. 

Ross didn’t get a response to his question until they were back in his room at the office. “Just trust me.” Smith said tugging at Ross’ hand leading him to his own office. 

Smith dropped Ross’ hand as they entered his office to root around in a cupboard on the far wall, pulling various jars and boxes out and placing them on the desk to his left. Ross leaned against the closed door, watching in confusion as Smith added various ingredients into a large stone basin and handed it to the dark haired man. “Grind that up for me.” Smith requested handing him a wide stone pestle. 

Ross probably used more force than was necessary to bash and crush the ingredients but it eased some of the tension that had been creeping up his spine, his mind blank as he ground stone against stone. 

Smith reached out for the bowl and Ross released it, holding up the pestle in question. “Where do you want this?” 

Smith nodded towards the desk. “Just chuck it on the desk mate, I’ll clean it up later.” 

Ross stayed quiet as Smith flicked through a notebook, his eyes darting across the page quickly as he read, with one hand he stirred the liquid in the mortar with a large brush and muttered to himself in a language Ross had no hope of understanding. 

Smith crouched in front of the blank wall and using the brush, painted a large rectangle that disappeared as soon as it was complete, a large wooden door in its place. Smith tossed the bowl onto the desk. “Can you grab that box for me mate?” He asked Ross pointing to a large wooden crate on the desk. “It’s heavy.” Smith added as Ross walked towards it with a shrug. 

Smith opened the door and gestured Ross to go through with the box. 

**********

Ross emerged from the door to the feel of sand shifting under his feet, turning to look at Smith he eyed the door which was standing open in the side of a tree, Smiths office visible beyond. 

Smith pulled a wedge of wood from his pocket and placed it in the bottom of the door to keep it from closing. “Put the box anywhere.” Smith instructed as he shrugged out of his hoodie and threw it through the open door. 

Ross placed the box on the sand and looked around. It seemed to be a small island, looking left and right he could see where the sand met ocean and curved around, he could see other islands out in the water, some close and clear, some blurry with distance. 

Smith leant against the side of the tree with one arm, pulling his shoes and socks off, throwing them through the door and sinking his toes into the warm sand. “Take your shoes and socks off, you need to be grounded for this.”

Ross raised an eyebrow. “For what?” He asked, arms folded across his chest. 

Smith licked his lips before offering Ross a smirk. “Anger management, Alex Smith style.”

Ross shrugged his shoulder at himself, he really didn’t have anything to lose. He walked the few steps back to the door to shed his shoes and socks, bending to roll the bottom of his jeans over a couple of times to stop them dragging on the floor. 

Once his toes were curling into the warm sand he turned to Smith who had been pulling various objects out of the wooden crate that Ross had carried through the door. “What is all that stuff anyway?” Ross asked trying to find a common theme in the various objects. 

“Broken shit.” Smith answered pulling out a large bucket filled with golf balls, putting pressure on it as he placed it onto the sand so it would stay upright. Smith flicked his eyes up to look at Ross who was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt and kicking his feet through the sand looking agitated. “Help me wrap these then we can start.” Smith said reaching for a golf ball and wrapping it in a couple of layers of newspaper. 

Ross complied wordlessly, quickly going through ten or so golf balls before Smith halted him and threw them, one by one onto the sand at varying distances. “What now?” Ross asked as Smith nodded at his handiwork. 

Smith turned and faced the dark haired man, meeting his eyes with a small smile and holding his hands out, palms up for Ross to place his own in them. Ross sighed but slapped his hands on top of Smiths, the taller man ran his hands up Ross’ to grasp as his wrists, and Ross mirrored the movement and stared up into Smith’s eyes in confusion. 

Smith smirked at him and raised his eyebrows as he breathed a word that Ross couldn’t understand through his teeth. 

It was like a tsunami sweeping through and around him, a wash of pure intense power that had Ross’ heart pounding as he stumbled on the spot. Smith tightened his grip on his wrists and turned his head to look towards the pile of broken tat that had been in the box. 

Ross gasped in a breath, he could feel the magic pouring out of Smith and into him through their joined arms, Smith released one of Ross’ wrists and brought a hand up to point at the now empty wooden crate and lifted it off the ground. Ross could feel it, he could feel the connections between him and Smith and the box. 

Smith span the box in a few lazy circles around them before lowing it back to the ground. “Your turn.” He said to the other man who was staring open mouthed back at him. 

“What? I don’t have telekinesis Smith?” 

Smith laughed. “Right now you do mate.” 

“How do I do it?” 

Smith turned to stand in front of him, not breaking their physical contact. “The power comes from here.” Smith said, his hand coming up to rest gently against Ross’ t-shirt covered stomach which jumped in response to the touch before Smith applied a little more pressure. “You can feel the power pool at the bottom and when there is enough you take a deep breath and you make the object move, you don’t ask it or coax it, you have to make it do it.” Ross nodded as Smith pulled his hand away and stepped out of Ross’ line of sight. “The anger is a tool to get the box to move, use it.” Smith added when Ross hesitated. 

Ross licked at his lips and tried to let the anger he had felt earlier come back over him but it didn’t seem to be working, he couldn’t think about that when Smith was still grasping his arm and he could still feel the ghost of his fingers against his stomach. “I can’t do it Smith.” 

Smith loosened his hold on Ross’ wrist, not breaking physical contact as he turned his hand, fingers sliding down his palm before they intertwined. “Yeah you can mate.” Smith insisted giving his hand a solid squeeze. “I’ll help you.” 

The pressure built in Ross’ stomach, a swirling mass of what he could only describe as a feeling of light, pulsing inside him. Ross raised his hand, narrowing his eyes in concentration as he pushed what he thought of as the wolf part of his personality forward, commanding the box to move. 

Smith barked out a laugh as he was pushed to the sand by a panicked Ross when the box shot into the air and smashed into a rock with an ear-splitting crash of wood on rock. 

Ross pushed himself up on outstretched arms, hovering over where Smith was lying on his back in the sand laughing. “Fuck off Smith.” Ross said, trying to sound angry but failing as he face split into a smirk.

“Fucking hell mate, that was hilarious.” Smith laughed looking into Ross’ ice blue eyes. 

The mood shifted as Ross stared back, Smith’s pupils were blow wide as he quietened and studied Ross still leaning over him. “Sorry.” Ross breathed, an automatic response to pretty much everything since he was a child.

Ross watched as Smith swallowed, his Adams apple bobbing in his exposed throat as he looked up at him. Smith’s eyes darted around his face, but Ross was still, his breathing becoming more ragged as seconds dragged on. Ross’ heart sped as Smith’s eyes flicked from his to his lips and back again but he didn’t dare move other than to repeat the eye movement himself. 

Smith blinked slowly, eyes falling shut for a fraction of a second too long making Ross believe that he had been rejected causing him to start to push his arms straighter to move away from the other man. 

He was halted by a hand gripping the front of his shirt, Ross flicked his eyes back to Smith’s as he simultaneously pulled Ross closer and leaned his own body up and away from the sand to meet him halfway.


	17. Snowflake and Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Ross and Smith fluff to brighten my stress filled day, followed by a bit of angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheers to Tam and Nisha for all your support, talking to you guys really motivates me to keep going, so thank you :)

Ross let out a shaky breath as he pulled back, straightening his arms to put some distance between himself and Smith. 

Smith smirked at him and Ross felt his face heat as he looked down at him. “That was intense.” Ross breathed out, his lips curling into a smile. 

Smith let out a short laugh before blowing a stream of air out of his mouth that caused the hair hanging over his forehead to flutter in the breeze. “The magic or the kiss?” 

Ross leant back on his knees before replying. “I don’t know, both?” He shrugged still smiling. 

Smith sat up to regard him and held a hand out for Ross to help him up. “How do you feel about doing some more?” 

Ross raised an eyebrow once both of them were on their feet. “The magic or the kissing?” He asked mirroring Smiths earlier question. 

Smith raised an eyebrow at him. “I don’t know, both?” 

Ross shook his head and let out a barking laugh before nodding. “Sure, why not?” 

Smith pulled him closer to the tree, shielding them both from the strong sun. “Stand right here.” Smith directed as he moved to stand behind Ross. “Legs shoulder width apart.” He said nudging at one of Ross’ ankles with his toes, Ross shifted his foot and bent his knees slightly. “This is going to be a bit more full on than the box so…” 

Ross nodded, swallowing past the lump in his throat as Smith closed the gap behind him, his head hovering over his shoulder. “What do I do?” Ross asked in a whisper, he wasn’t sure if the goose bumps rising on his arm were from the faint buzz of magic in the air or from Smiths fingers as they trailed from his elbow to his hand until they interlocked with Ross’ underneath. 

“Take a deep breath, and enjoy the ride.” Smith whispered back, his voice low and husky as he gathered power. 

If Ross thought the power he had felt earlier was strong, it was nothing compared to what Smith was emitting now. Ross could feel it soaking through the soles of his feet, a warmth bordering on burning spreading up his legs in waves before building into what felt like a hot lump of burning coat in the pit of his stomach. 

Ross shivered as he heard Smith wet his lips close to his right ear and tighten his hold on Ross’ hand. Smith pressed his shoulder into Ross’ and raised their joined hand towards one of the newspaper covered golf balls lying in the sand about twenty feet away. Smith’s chest expanded behind him, pressing into his back as the taller man took a deep breath. 

Ross’ held his breath, his heart racing as Smith flexed his fingers and the burning in his stomach shifted, racing up his chest and down his raised arm. 

The ball erupted in flames, immediately burning through the paper onto the plastic underneath, deep blue flames licking across the rapidly melting surface. 

Ross let out his held breath with an expletive. “Holy shit.” 

Smith let out an amused huff of air through his nose into Ross’ shoulder and released his hand, stepping back to sever the connection of magic. “We should probably stop, I’m not sure what all this foreign magic will do to you.” 

Ross spun to look at him, disappointment flashing across his face. “What else can you do?” 

Smith smirked at him and quirked an eyebrow. “You want to see my party trick?” 

Ross nodded enthusiastically, grinning at Smith. 

Smith smirked. “Okay, it’s too hot out here anyway.” Ross narrowed his eyebrows in confusion at him as he came to stand toe to toe with Ross, tongue darting out to wet his lips. 

Ross took a shallow breath through his mouth as he met Smith’s eyes that seemed to be lightening into a more brilliant blue than before. Smith held his gaze and smiled as Ross heard something shifting in the sand behind him but didn’t break the eye contact as Smith leant forwards brush his lips against Ross’. 

The kiss was gentle and sweet until Ross’ hand came up to bury itself in the sandy mess of Smith’s hair. The taller man hummed a pleased sound in the back of his throat at the contact urging Ross to deepen the kiss into something far less innocent. 

Smith's hands found his hip, thumb tracing an arch against skin under his shirt, Smith’s other hand conspicuously absent as Ross fisted his hand into the front of Smith’s shirt. 

The air seemed to cool rather than heat as Ross felt Smith shift his stance slightly, his thumb halting its movements against his hip, the digit cool against the warmth of his skin. 

Ross pulled back as he felt something cool landing on his hair, shifting the strands slightly. Ross looked up in confusion at the blizzard of falling snowflakes floating down onto the two men. Smith bit his lip in amusement and tipped the bucket further to let out a deluge of water which froze as it fell, splitting into thousands of tiny white specks. 

**********

Hannah woke with a start. Her heart hammering in her chest as she pushed her sweaty hair out of her face with a slow exhale of breath. 

The dreams were always so vivid, memories long buried surfacing with crystal clarity whenever the anniversary came around. 

She didn’t cry after the dreams anymore but sometimes she would wake with the crusty residue of dried tears on her cheeks, leaving wet patches on her pillow. 

Hannah pushed herself out of bed and dragged her feet as she shuffled towards the bathroom trying to push any dark thoughts out of her head by splashing cold water into her tired eyes. She snatched up a hair bobble from the counter and gathered her hair at the base of her neck as she walked back into her bedroom to snatch up her duvet from the bed. 

She didn’t bother with shoes, instead stepping through the portal barefoot onto the carpet in her office and following the corridor to the light shining in the common room where Kim and Trott both sat playing something on the Wii U. 

Hannah sighed as she fell back onto the sofa between Kim and Trott after throwing the duvet on the other side of it. “Mario Kart?” She asked reaching for one of the spare controllers littering the table in front of them. 

“Ladies choice.” Trott grunted out as his kart swerved to avoid a banana on the track. 

“I got here first so I get to choose.” Kim replied through gritted teeth as she concentrated on the screen. 

Hannah watched them race in silence for a few minutes, eyes seemingly focused on the screen but not really seeing. 

Trott tossed the controller to the side in defeat and turned his attention to the blonde. “Couldn’t sleep either?” 

Hannah sighed. “Dreams again.” She replied placing her own unused controller on the table. 

“Yeah, they’re the best.” Kim agreed, sarcasm lacing her words. 

Trott just nodded. "It’s been years, why the hell is this still affecting us so bad?” 

They had had this discussion often over the last few years and none of them had the answer. “Did you bring the film?” Hannah asked glancing at Trott and Kim in turn. 

Trott huffed an annoyed breath at her and rolled his eyes. “This isn’t my first rodeo mate.” He said reaching into the bag at his feet and holding up the box for Hannah to see before placing it on the floor. Kim stood from Hannah’s other side to retrieve a plastic bag from one of the desks whilst Hannah leant over to pull the duvet towards herself and Trott. 

Kim handed the bag to Hannah as Trott kicked his shoes off and shuffled back into the corner of the sofa, Hannah shifted close to his left side pulling the duvet over both of them, holding the corner up so Kim could slip in on Trott’s other side. 

Kim snatched up the DVD from the floor pushing the disk into the waiting player before she curled up next to Trott and Hannah dropped the duvet over her. 

The three friends shifted, one of Hannah’s legs draped over Trott’s as they got comfortable. The opening credits rolled as Hannah passed the other two milkshakes and placed the now open bags of popcorn and chocolate on Trott’s lap in the middle of them. 

“Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight…” Kim sang in a whisper as the instrumental music washed over them, Trott tightened his arms around the two girls with a sigh.


	18. The passage of time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fluffy chapter to indicate the passage of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Tam and Alvaro for your help with this.

Sips rolled his eyes at Smith’s efforts. “Out of the way, Smiffy, I got this one.” He said pushing at Smiths shoulder. “Go get the wood or this will never be finished in time.” 

Smith huffed out a breath and let the sand fall back to the ground. “Cheers, mate.” Smith smiled at him and he took off towards the open door in the side of the tree. 

Sips regarded the sand for a moment before waving his hand nonchalantly towards the small dent Smith had made by moving the sand into a small pile a few feet away. The sand shifted, sinking into the ground and leaving a ten foot wide circular depression. Sips rubbed his hands together, his work complete with little to no effort, which was just how he liked it.

Sips lay back in the sand and pulled his hat down by the visor to cover his eyes before stretching his arms above his head, linking his fingers and resting his head on them. The sound of the waves and the warmth of the shining sun lulling him into a light doze. 

The sound of someone approaching, their feet kicking through the sand brought him towards consciousness, the heat of the sun fading as the other person stood over him.

“You’re in my sun.” Sips groaned, not bothering to move his cap away from his eyes so he could see who it was. 

Sjin snorted a laugh, but sat down on the sand anyway to get out of the other man’s sunlight. “Are you really not going to help with the rest of the set up?” 

Sips pulled one of his arms out from under his head and gestured in the general direction of the hole he had made. “I helped, now I’m taking a break so either go away or shut your yapping and let me sleep.” 

Sjin pursed his lips and thought about retorting, but he knew it would do no good. You did not get Sips to do something he didn’t want to without some serious reward at the end of it. 

Sjin’s eyes scanned the beach as he sat next to the other man. Ross and Duncan were going back and forth through the door, dragging through large pieces of wood, which Smith, would levitate over stacking them in an organised pile in the pit Sips had created earlier. 

**********

Bebop laughed at Simon as he entered the room. “What are you guys even doing?” Bebop asked as Simon rubbed at his clothes, trying to get rid of the bits of straw and hay that clung to his hoodie.

The table and floor were covered in bits of fabric and something that Bebop could only describe as a really deformed scarecrow was leaning against the wall, its faceless head looking amusing and creepy in equal measure. 

"It’s Guy Fawkes!” Lewis announced, pointing to the terrifying creation. 

Bebop shot a sideways glance at Ridge, who sat a few feet away at another table, flicking through a book, but the other boy shrugged at him, evidently not understanding the reference either. “What’s a Guy Fawkes?” 

*********

Ross grinned at the unlit bonfire. The wooden tower was a couple of feet taller than their heads with Lewis and Simon’s creation sitting on top, strapped to a wooden chair. Someone had obviously taken offence at the faceless creepiness of the doll and had drawn it some eyes and a content looking smile. 

They were all gathered around in a rough circle to watch as Smith lit the fire with a click of his fingers. The smoke started billowing out the sides as it caught fire and the flames started to lick up its sides, the middle already glowing a rich orange. 

Smith slung an arm around Ross’ shoulder, Ross’ own arm snaking around the other man’s waist. “What do you think?” Smith asked. 

“I think it’s a good job that Kim and Will set up the cloaking spells. This is going to be visible for miles.” Ross answered, hooking a thumb into the belt loop of Smith’s jeans and leaning on his shoulder.

“Alright, pricks!” Trott greeted as he approached with Katie, their hands intertwined. Trott held out a bottle of lager to Ross, who took it with a nod of thanks and dropped his arm from Smith's middle to open it. Katie handed Smith one as well and he thanked her by saluting her with the bottle before taking a swig. The four friends watched the flames consume the structure in silence. 

 

The night passed by in laughter and excitement. A barbeque tended to by Fiona fed the group a steady flow of hot dogs and burgers as Martyn and Bebop manned the mixing desk, blasting out music into the night, wires trailing across the sand and through the propped open door into the office. 

Ross’ back rested against the tree, his legs spread wide as Smith settled himself between them and leaned back into Ross’ chest. The dark haired man pressed a kiss to Smith’s shoulder before resting his chin on it. “You having fun?” He asked.

Smith gently bumped his head against the other man's in affection. “Yeah, the fireworks were something else.” 

Ross used his right hand to pluck his drink from the sand as his left hand came to rest against Smith’s hip. “I’ve never been to a proper firework display before.” 

Smith leant forward so he could turn his head and look at Ross. “Never?” 

Ross shrugged. “I saw the New Year’s Eve ones, that were on TV a couple of years ago and sometimes where I was staying I would look out the window on Bonfire Night and see some, but they were always quite far away.” Ross’ face betrayed nothing, but unbothered acceptance. 

Smith turned his head back to look out towards the fire, promising himself that he would make it his and his friends mission to give Ross all the things he had missed over the years that they had all taken for granted. 

**********

Christmas and New Year flew by too fast for Ross. It was the first time he could remember ever really enjoying that time of year and it flashed by so quickly that once it was over he was left feeling a little despondent. 

Smith had made the holiday something that Ross would cherish for the rest of his days, dragging Ross off to his house on Christmas Eve after his mother had left for work where she would once again miss another Christmas with her son. Smith didn’t seem to mind, he was excited that he would get to share the day with Ross and not have to intrude on the Trott family for the fourth year in a row. 

They spent the day in various stages of undress, pausing in their merriment of eating Christmas food and watching TV to sate other needs that seemed of utmost importance to their hormone riddled bodies.

The office had met in the evening, drinking and laughing, singing off key carols and watching Christmas Day TV, the Brits of the group introducing the others to Wallace and Gromit and the Queen's Christmas Day speech with giggles of glee. 

***********

January eased into February, the cold receding slightly as spring approached. 

Ross reached for Smith’s hand as they left the cinema and walked back to the office. “It’s the full moon tomorrow.” Ross said as they started over the bridge. 

“You going up to the cave with Kim again?” Smith asked. 

Ross stopped walking, pulling Smith to a stop in the middle of the bridge. “I... uhh.” Ross hesitated, wetting his lips before continuing. “Kim is going to be in Malaysia so she can’t come with me.” Ross said quietly. “But we talked about it and we’re pretty certain that I can change in the office and roam around without any problems.” 

Smith beamed at him. “I’m going to be able to see you all wolfed out?” 

Ross nodded, nerves stirring in his stomach. “Not the change though, I don’t want anyone to see that.” 

Smith nodded, it was something that nether Ross nor Kim would discuss with anyone and although curious he realised it was painful and something that the two kept between just themselves. 

They talked about the film as they started walking again, through the winding streets towards the office. 

“You want to stop at mine tonight? My mom’s out.” Smith suggested as they entered the building, passing by the common room with a wave to those within. 

Ross’ answering grin and quickening pace towards Smith’s office was the only answer he needed.


	19. If you don't, don't.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ross lets his friends meet the wolf

Even with their precautions in place most of the members of the office cleared out for the night when they found out that Ross would be changing in the building for the night. 

Smith, Katie and Trott refused to leave, camping out in the common room waiting for the sun to set whilst Ross paced around the room in his pre change jitters. 

“Ten minutes.” Ross breathed out to himself as the adrenaline started to flow through his veins. “I need to go get ready.” He said to the three on the sofa. “Do not come to me, even if I scream.” He directed this more at Smith, locking eyes with him. “Understand?” 

Smith nodded, a little colour draining from his face at the prospect of Ross in agony and being unable to help. 

Ross nodded once to him then sent a small smile to Trott and Katie before leaving the room, his stride long and quick. 

Trott broke the silence. “A right ray of sunshine today isn’t he?” 

Katie jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. “He can’t help it, he’s scared so don’t make any stupid jokes.” 

Trott’s mouth dropped open in fake offence, one of his hands pressing to his chest. “Me? It’s Smith who got Kim a fucking chew toy for Christmas!” 

Smith snorted a laugh. “Comedy gold mate.” Katie just rolled her eyes at him. 

It wasn’t as bad as Smith imagined. They heard a long shout of pain lasting a second or two as the moon shone through the night, barely a minute passed after the noise before the three friends heard the door creak open as Ross pushed his way inside with his nose. 

Smith slid to the floor to rest on his knees. “Ross?” He questioned as the large black wolf rounded the end of the sofa and came into view. 

Had he been standing, Smith would have guessed Ross’ canine head would have come to his hips. Smith stayed as still as possible as Ross’ ice blue eyes darted around the room, taking in everything from his height. Ross sniffed, a short burst of multiple intakes of air that had his nose twitching at the familiar smells of the office and the people who frequented. 

Ross’ eyes landed on Smith’s own, Smith let out a relieved breath as he saw recognition flash over Ross and his canine body relaxed to lie down on the floor, showing he meant no harm. 

Smith crooked his finger. “Come here Ross.” 

Ross lifted his rump off the floor slightly so he could tuck his back legs underneath his body to crawl forward in a move that had Trott and Katie giggling. Ross’ tail wagged with vigour, hitting the sofa with loud thumps as he closed the distance between himself and Smith. 

"He is so cute!" Katie exclaimed clutching Trott’s hand. 

Smith held a hand out towards the wolf. “Can I touch you?” He asked without making contact. Ross crept closer and pushed his head upwards to connect with Smith’s hand. The fur was thick and coarse under Smith’s hand as he ran it over Ross’ head and down his neck with a smile as Ross leant into the touch. 

Katie uncurled herself from Trott’s side to join Smith and Ross on the floor, her movements slow and a reassuring smile on her face as she questioned Ross with a look. Ross bumped her hand with his head causing Katie to let out a small giggle and scratch behind Ross’ large black ears, Ross huffed out a noise somewhere between a moan and a growl as Katie’s nails worked into his fur. 

“I thought you were a wolf not a lap dog mate.” Trott teased from his seat on the sofa. 

Ross looked at Smith and Katie in turn before lunging towards the man on the sofa with a growl, pinning him down with his large front paws on Trott’s shoulders. Bearing his teeth he leant his face closer, hot breath washing over Trott’s face as he paled and let out squeaking protests. “I’m sorry Ross, I didn’t mean it, please don’t bite me!” 

Ross’ let out a couple of yelping barks and attacked. His long, wet tongue slobbering over Trott’s face as Trott laughed in a mixture of relief and amusement trying to push the large animal off him. 

**********

Ross woke in his own bed, curled up on top of the covers which in turn were on top of Smith, Ross’ head resting on the other man’s thighs. Ross groaned as he rolled off Smith, his back straightening for the first time in hours, the movement waking Smith. 

“Morning.” Ross grunted as he scrubbed at his face with his hands, his skin feeling gritty. 

Smith smiled at him. “How do you feel?” 

The dark haired man sat up to plant his feet on the floor. “I’ll feel better after a shower.” He admitted reaching towards the wardrobe to grab a towel to wrap around his hips. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” 

Smith kicked the sheets off himself as Ross left the room and ran a hand through his bed hair as he slid out of the bed and shuffled out of the door in search of caffeine and food. 

Smith rummaged in the kitchen before pulling the loaf of bread out of the bread bin and dropping four slices into the toaster, pushing the switch down with one hand as the other reached for the kettle to flick it on. 

Smith's body went into autopilot as he buttered the toast and made coffee. 

A few minutes later, one hand holding two mugs and the other a plate of toast Smith pushed open Ross’ door with his foot, kicking it closed behind him and holding the plate out for Ross to take. 

“You’re like some sort of Angel!” Ross sighed before taking a bite of a slice of toast as Smith set the mugs of coffee on the bedside table and climbed back onto the bed. 

“Don’t scoff it all.” Smith replied snatching a piece of his own from the plate. 

Ross chewed in silence, regarding the other man. “Was last night okay?” 

Smith narrows his eyebrows and swallowed his toast. “I thought you said you remember everything now?” 

Ross nodded. “I do, but, was it too weird? Seeing it?” He asked, his eyes locked on his hands resting in his towel covered lap. 

“What? No.” Smith replied. “Did you honestly think seeing it would change what I think about you?” 

Ross didn’t look up, still staring down at his hands as he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, I just don’t get it.” 

“Don’t get what?” 

Ross tore his eyes away from his hands to meet Smith’s eyes for a moment before flicking them down again. “Why you like me.” 

Smith sucked in a sharp breath and scooted over to Ross until he was sitting in front of him, one hand entwining with one of Ross’ as the other lifted Ross’ face gently. Ross closed his eyes in a long blink, tongue poking out of his mouth to lick at his wet lips as his eyelids lifted open again. “I like you because you’re funny and smart and kind and you put up with my shit.” Smith said, voice gentle. 

Ross’ smile was more a twitch at the corner of his mouth than anything. “I have a stupid amount of baggage Smith, it’s not something you should have to deal with.” 

Smith raised his eyebrows. “You didn’t let me finish.” Ross bit his lip and waited for him to continue. “You are also ridiculously attractive, have an amazing arse that just begs to be touched constantly, you give amazing head…” Ross snorted a laugh, his face breaking out into a reluctant grin at Smith’s filthy mouth. “…And I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, so you’re stuck with me I’m afraid.” Smith finished, searching Ross’ eyes for a reaction. 

Ross swallowed and cleared his throat trying to dislodge the lump that had suddenly formed in it, opening his mouth to reply but no sound coming out. 

Smith wet his lips and broke eye contact, reaching for one of the coffees and handing it to Ross. “Drink your coffee, mate.” Smith said standing from the bed as he picked his own up and walked to the door. “I’m going to head home for a shower and a change of clothes.” 

Ross stood as Smith opened the door. “Alex? I’m sorry… I…” 

Smith offered him a lopsided smile, one that Ross had never seen him give to anyone except himself. “It’s okay Ross, I can wait, and it doesn’t change anything.” He assured the other man. 

“Will I see you later?” Ross asked, voice low and steady despite the pounding of his heart in his ears. 

The smile changed on Smith’s face, his lips parting to show his teeth as he grinned at him. “Trying to back out of our date tonight? It’s your turn to choose the film.” 

Ross let out a relived bark of a laugh. “Six thirty?” He questioned. 

Smith nodded and downed his coffee in one swallow, saluting Ross with his empty mug before exiting the room.


	20. Vanishing Door

Ross watched him go, waiting for a couple of seconds before falling back against the bed on his back. What the hell was wrong with him? It was four words, why was it so hard to get them out? 

He hadn’t ever felt anything like he felt for Smith before, it was butterflies and weak knees, breathless heart pounding and a solid contentment that radiated warmth through him even in the coldest of moments. 

Ross stood to dress, pushing his thoughts and emotions as far back in his head as he could with practiced ease. Dragging a t shirt over his head he made his way out of the room, detouring through the kitchen to dump the couple of uneaten slices of soggy, cold toast in the bin. He really wasn’t hungry any more. 

The common room was bustling but Ross didn’t feel like talking to anyone so strode over to the sofa and snatched up one of the controllers to play some Call of Duty, slamming the wireless headset over his ears and loading up a zombie survival map. 

Hours sped passed in a cacophony of gun shots and groans as he downed wave after wave of zombies, his brain turning over and over the conversation with Smith that morning. 

**********

Kim arrived at around two when Ross was on his fifth or sixth game and not doing very well, swearing under his breath as he was cornered by a pack of zombies, screen going red around the edges as his character went down. 

Ross threw the controller onto the cushion next to him in disgust and ripped the headphones off, noticing for the first time that Kim was sat a few feet away on the other end of the sofa. “Someone’s a little tense.” 

Ross pinched the bridge of his nose and tried not to snap at her. “It’s probably best if you don’t try and speak to me right now.” 

Kim huffed at him. “I’ll talk to you whenever I damn well please Ross Hornby, now are you going to tell me what has your knickers in a twist or do I have to sit here and coax it out of you whilst the wolf in my head paces relentlessly because of your distress?” 

Ross gnawed at his lower lip but didn’t meet the small girl’s eyes. “It’s nothing.” 

Kim raised her eyebrows at him. “Nothing?” She shook her head in disbelief. “Nothing doesn’t have Turps and Zoey coming to find me because your thoughts and emotions are fluctuating so much that you are close to crushing a forty quid controller with your bare hands.” 

Ross rolled his eyes but didn’t deny the accusation. “I just need some time to process some stuff.” 

“You need to talk about it Ross, you can’t keep all this shit bottled up all the time, it isn’t good for you.” 

Ross shot a look around the room to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. “I’m not talking about anything in a room full of people Kim.” Ross replied sitting back in his seat. 

Kim shot up from her seat. “Let’s go somewhere else then.” Ross shot her an unimpressed look and didn’t move. “If you would prefer I started talking right here, right now then I will.” She threatened. Ross sighed but stood, a sweet smile lit up Kim’s face. “Good boy.” She praised with a wink as she led the way out of the room, a rumbling growl from Ross at her words making her giggle as he followed close behind. 

*********

Ross fell into the chair next to Kim’s desk in her office as Kim settled on a bean bag in the corner of the room. 

"What happened?" Kim asked as Ross rubbed his hands through his hair. 

Ross didn’t answer for a moment, instead he stared at the various Knick knacks on the shelf opposite him. “It’s private.” 

Kim screwed her face up at him. “Sweetheart, we’ve seen each other naked and writhing in agony, I don’t think we even have privacy boundaries anymore.” 

“Smith said he was in love with me.” Ross breathed out into the silence of the room. 

"And this is a problem?" Kim asked. "Don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming? That boy has it bad for you.” 

Ross leant forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I didn’t say it back.” 

“Oh.” Ross nodded to himself before meeting her eyes. “Do you?” Kim asked. “Love him back I mean?” 

Ross wet his lips and pressed them together for a minute, taking a deep breath through his nose and rising from his seat to pace around the small room. “I don’t know.” He started, picking up a figure from the shelf and turning it in his hands. “Everything is just so different to what I’m used to and you have all been so amazing to me but sometimes I worry I am just this charity case that Katie found in a cave.” 

Kim didn’t comment, Ross was staring down at the plastic in his hand with a look of concentration as he tried to put his feelings into words, he continued talking. “And Smith.” He paused to swallow, a now familiar dry ache in his throat. “Smith came along and just blew through everything I thought about myself, he made me feel right and normal and worth the trouble you all put up with for me.” Ross placed the figure back down on the shelf and turned to Kim. “He deserves so much more than I can give him but I don’t think I can let him go either, maybe I’m just too selfish.” 

Kim smiled, a gentle, reassuring lift of her lips that somehow eased some of the anxiety swirling in Ross’ stomach. “Not selfish.” Kim said, standing from her seat to approach Ross, stopping in in front of him to look up at him. “Love doesn’t concern itself with reason or logic, it’s this unexplainable force that binds us to the people that matter and whether you voice it or not, it’s there.” 

“You didn’t see his face when I couldn’t say it back, he looked…” Ross huffed an annoyed breath at himself. “I just wish it wasn’t so hard.” 

Kim flung her arms around Ross’ middle and rubbed her face against his chest. “You are one of my best friends and my pack brother,” Kim announced pushing herself away from Ross with her hand on his arms so she could look him in the eye as she continued. “And I love you.” 

Ross couldn’t control his face as the corner of his lip quirked in a crooked smile. Taking a deep, shaky breath through his mouth he croaked through the words, voice breaking with emotion. “I love you too, Kim.” 

Kim launched herself at him with a shout of delight, hanging from his neck as her feet dangled feet off the floor. 

**********

Ross met Smith outside his room as the clock on the wall ticked over to six thirty, Smith looked happier that he had that morning, pulling Ross into a shallow kiss with a smile and his hands burred into the folds of Ross hoodie. 

Ross smiled as he pulled away. “Hey.” 

“Hey.” Smith said back as he released his hold on Ross’ clothes. “So what are we going to watch?” 

Ross shrugged taking Smith’s hand in his own as they walked towards the door to exit the office. “What are you in the mood for?” Ross asked. 

“Explosions and car chases?” Smith questioned with a smirk. 

Ross snorted a laugh. “The independent place down by the shopping centre is doing a Bruce Willis thing all week.” He said pulling his phone out of his pocket to check the listings. “They’re playing The Fifth Element at eight.” 

“Big Ba-da-boom!” Smith whined in an awful impression that had Ross barking a laugh. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Ross grinned, squeezing Smith’s hand in affection. 

**********

It was just after eleven pm by the time the two men started their walk back to the office hand in hand. 

“I fucking love that film.” Smith announced swinging their joined hands back and forth as they walked. 

Ross nodded at him. “It’s a classic.” He agreed. 

Smith started talking excitedly, recounting the best moments of the film as the hairs on the back of Ross’ neck started to rise, a tingling that he usually attributed to powerful magic climbing over his skin. 

Ross pushed out his senses, his vision sharpening as the colour bled away from his surroundings. Smith’s talking was too loud next to him to detect any sound in the night but Ross couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, his heart sped up as he tried to take inconspicuous sniffs of the air but it came back with nothing but a mixture of his and Smith’s combined scent and the musty smell of the river a few feet to their left. 

Ross realised a little too late that the wind was coming from the wrong direction for him to be able to smell what was coming, a flash of white light dazzled his eyes as he was hit by a solid bolt of magic that blasted him off his feet with a shout of pain. 

Smith screamed as Ross struggled to sit up, his ribs protesting with stabbing intensity against the movement. 

“Get the fuck off me you piece of shit!” Smith screamed out through gritted teeth as he struggled against the two men who held him by the arms. 

Ross growled, loud and feral as he lunged towards his boyfriend and ripped one of the men away from him, throwing him headfirst into the railings at the side of the river. 

The second man flew through the air as Smith flicked his arm out with a grunt, Ross and Smith sharing a look of panic and relief that lasted only a millisecond before Ross was hit by a second bolt of magic, souring over the railings to land with a loud splash into the fast flowing river. 

"Ross!" Smith shouted, ignoring the shouts of ‘Don’t fucking move!’ that were coming from behind him. 

Ross surfaced, clawing at the water to try and make it towards the bank with frantic movements. “Smith! Behind you!” He spluttered out through a mouth full of dirty water as his hand connected with grass. 

Smith turned in time to see the wooden bat race towards his head but not to do anything else, it connected with a hollow ‘thunk’ and Smith fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. 

Ross scrambled to climb out of the water, his whole body shaking as he tried to find purchase on the mud and slick grass, slipping back into the water before launching himself out with a scream at the agony of landing on what must have been broken ribs. 

The men were all up, already running towards an alley a couple of hundred feet away. Ross wrapped an arm around his stomach, trying to hold the pain in as he ran after them, stumbling in his wet trainers. 

Ross rounded the corner as they opened the door at the end of the alley, the largest of their group turning to lock his impossibly green eyes with Ross’ as he walked through, Smith lifeless over his shoulder. 

The noise that escaped Ross wasn’t anything a human should be capable of making, he ran full pelt towards the group, as they hurried through the door. 

Ross was five feet away, he leapt forwards, arms outstretched to grasp the door handle but he was too late, his fingers brushed the bare brick wall as he hit the concrete floor. 

The door was gone.

And so was Smith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so fucking happy with this chapter! I really hope you guys like it as much as i do, 
> 
> please let me know what you think?


	21. Forced change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ross gets back to the office ater the attack

Katie laughed as Trott slapped his hand down on the table in front of her. “Paint me like one of your French girls!” 

Kim spluttered around her mouthful of water, smudging her freshly painted nails as she coughed. Hannah slapped her on the back a few times as she giggled. “Cough it up Kim.” 

“You made me smudge them now you twat!” Kim accused Trott, pointing her ruined finger at him. 

Katie rolled her eyes at her boyfriend who stuck his tongue out at Kim. “Come here, I’ll redo it.” She said patting the seat next to her before wetting a cotton pad with nail varnish remover. 

Kim flopped down into the chair holding her hand out for Katie to take. “At least it was only the one nail.” Katie commented as she rubbed the paint off before reaching for the varnish with one hand and placing Kim’s hand on the table. 

"Did you speak to Lewis about uni yet?” Trott asked Hannah as Katie unscrewed the lid from the small bottle, dragging the brush over the lip to get rid of the excess. 

Hannah grimaced. “We talked a bit.” She started. “But, I don’t know. We can see each other whenever here so I don’t know if it even matters.” 

Katie chimed in. “It does matter though, if you guys want a place together.” 

Trott pointed to Katie with raised eyebrows, still looking at Hannah to indicate that Katie had a point. 

Katie reached forward and took Kim’s hand in her own, leaning forward in her seat to apply a new coat of nail varnish. “Did you hear that?” Kim asked whipping her head around, cocking it to the side and straining to listen. 

“Hear what?” Trott asked unconcerned. 

Kim’s hand slipped from Katie’s as she stood and strode towards the door. The other three following close behind. 

The hair on Kim’s arms rose as the sounds became clearer, recognition sending a shot of adrenaline through her body as she broke into a run. 

"Ross?" She shouted as she barrelled through the door to the street, skidding to a halt as she locked eyes with the large black wolf. 

Hannah screamed as she rounded the corner and saw Kim kneeling on the ground in front of a very distressed and wolfed out Ross. “What the fuck is going on?” Hannah asked, shocked. “There isn’t a full moon!” 

Kim was eye to eye with Ross, trying in vain to understand what was happening. “Where’s Smith?” Kim asked looked around the empty car park for the other man. Ross butted her with his head, panic radiating off him in waves as he tried to yelp out something that would be coherent to her. 

Trott held the door open. “Come on, we will have to figure this out inside, I’ll call Smith.” He said pulling his phone out of his pocket. Ross let out a whine rushing for the door and nudging Trott’s phone out of his hand so it landed on the floor. “Jesus Ross!” Trott scolded, snatching his phone from the floor. “Alright, I won’t call Smith.” 

Ross shot into the building, his four friends running after him with a shout of his name. Exclamations of shock echoed through the hallways as Ross darted in and out of offices seeming to be searching for something. “Where the fuck is he going?” Trott asked glancing at Hannah in step beside him. 

Kim raced forwards, her smaller legs somehow carrying her faster than her friends. She found Ross scratching at the door to Turps’ office. “Turps?” Kim asked the wolf as he nosed at the door. “Turps changed you into a wolf?” Ross growled low in the throat, baring his teeth at Kim. “Okay, okay, not Turps.” She said holding up her hands in a surrendering gesture. 

Ross bounded over to Trott nudging at his pocket with his nose. Trott flicked his hair out of his eyes and looked down at Ross who nudged him again. Trott’s hand slipped inside his pocket and pulled out his phone, Ross looked to the door and back to Trott. “We are so fucking thick.” Trott announced as he scrolled through his phone numbers and clicked the call button. 

**********

Kim tried to calm Ross whilst they waited for Turps to arrive but she wasn’t having any luck, Ross paced around the room, the fur on the back of his neck standing on end in agitation. 

Turps arrived, sauntering into the room with Sips who simply raised an eyebrow at Ross pacing before falling into a chair with a huff. “What’s with wolf boy?” He asked Hannah who stood the closest to him. 

“Not a clue, we thought he was out with Smith, the rest of us were hanging out when Kim heard something so we went to have a look and Ross was out in the car park as a wolf.” 

“What did Smiffy say?” Sips asked as Turps approached Ross slowly. 

“I text him but he hasn’t answered so Kim tried to call him but his phone is turned off.” Trott answered. 

All eyes in the room focused on Turps as he knelt in front of Ross. “Ross, you need to take some deep breaths and calm down, I’m getting nothing but white noise from you.” 

Ross sat down on his haunches and stared hard into Turps eyes, trying to project his thoughts. 

Turps let out a squeak as he fell back onto the floor. “Mate, you need to think human, I can’t understand, you’re going too fast and there’s too much at once.” 

A low sound rumbled through the wolf as he tried to think slowly. 

“Fuck!” Turps exclaimed, reaching out and laying a hand against Ross’ neck. “Who did it? I need you to show me.” 

Turps pushed himself off the floor and turned to address the room. “Kim, you need to do something to get him to turn back as soon as possible.” Turps ordered. “One of you go and get Fiona, I think he has some broken ribs.” 

"What the fuck happened?" Trott asked as Katie whipped out her phone to call Fiona. 

“They were attacked on their way back to the office, they took Smith.” 

Ross whined, his ears flat against his head as Turps spoke. Kim rushed over and buried her face in the fur on Ross’ neck. “Come on, let’s go to your room and get you back to normal, then we can come up with a plan.” 

Trott pushed his hair out of his eyes and let out a few choice expletives as Kim steered Ross out of the room, waiting until the door closed behind them before questioning Turps further. “Who did this?” 

Turps shrugged. "He only saw one of them clearly, it was dark and he was more focused on trying to stop them hurting Smith than taking names.” 

Hannah and Trott shared a look. “What did they look like?” Hannah asked biting her lip. 

Turps sighed. “I don’t know, tall, dark hair, green eyes, built.” 

Trott swore again, his hands curling into fists. “What fuck are we going to do?” He asked the assembled group. 

Katie seemed to be in shock, leaning against a table looking pale. Hannah wasn’t faring much better, her shoulders hunched as she chewed on the corner of her thumbnail. Turps was pacing, muttering to himself, voice too low for the others to decipher. 

Trott narrowed his eyes at Sips who was scrolling through his phone. “Are you fucking shitting with me right now Sips?” Trott shouted, frustration and worry making his voice crack as he screamed at the other man. “Get off your fucking phone and help us fucking think of something to get Smith back!” 

Sips looked over at Trott, raising an eyebrow before pressing his thumb to the screen and bringing the phone to his ear. 

Trott leapt for the other man with a shouted profanity, Sips pushed at the floor with his feet, the chair underneath him sliding him out of the way of Trott’s off balance punch. Trott fell into the table with a loud crash, Hannah and Katie surged forwards, taking one of Trott’s arms each to hold him back from attacking again. 

“Yeah, what’s the incantation?” Sips asked down the phone in a bored tone. “Cool, thanks.”

Katie and Hannah ranted at Trott, voices overlapping as they tried to calm him, both still clinging to one of his arms. 

Sips pushed himself off his chair and sauntered over to one of the plant pots in the corner of the room, he snatched it up. “Turps.” He directed the other man to the table Trott had fell on earlier. Sips swiped a half full water bottle from one of the desks, upturning the plant pot onto the wooden surface before pouring the water over. 

"Now is not the time for a fucking mud pie!” Trott shot at Sips, the Canadian man flipped him the bird. 

Sips muttered a couple of words and reached out to wrap his hand around Turps’ wrist, closing his eyes and letting out a groan of pain as the connection was made. 

Turps watched in horror as Sips grit his teeth against Turps’ power, his face darkening from his usual pale pallor to a hot pink, then red. Turps pulled his arm out of reach when the other man started turning a particularly livid shade of purple, lips paling to blue. 

Sips gasped for breath as his hand left Turps’ arm, doubling over, coughing as he tried to regain his breath. 

Hannah dropped Trott’s arm, he had stopped fighting against her and Katie as soon as Sips had stood from his seat. Hannah rubbed at Sips’ back. “Shit Sips, what the hell were you thinking? You know Turps’ power is fucking volatile?” 

Sips didn’t answer verbally, instead leaning heavily on the chair, he straightened up and waved a hand over the table. 

Hannah watched as the dirt and water mixed into a thick muddy paste that arranged itself on the table, a face, as detailed and clear as a photograph stared back at her.

The group gathered around, eyes narrowed as they took in the face in front of them in silence. 

The door burst back open, Ross striding in back in human form, fastening the button to his jeans and shirtless. “I need one of you to do a location spell to find Smith.” He announced, tossing a t shirt onto the edge of the table that held their attention. 

“Once we locate hi…” Kim stopped talking abruptly, a feral growl erupting from her throat as she took in the image on the table, her fist connecting with the wood with an ear splitting screech as the metal frame under the table bent from the force, the wood splintered. “Call everyone and get them here now.” She ordered, her voice low and commanding.


	22. The past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kim finally opens up to Ross about the past.
> 
> Okay guys, this one is very heavy and has violence and blood. You have been warned.

Fiona rushed into the room with a huff. “Pre-emptively calling me and getting me out of bed so that I can sort out your busted knuckles isn’t exactly what I had in mind for my night.” She said as she pushed passed Hannah to take Kim’s hand in her own. 

“Ross needed you, not me.” Kim said as Fiona lay her other hand on top, sandwiching Kim’s bleeding knuckles between her hands, a soft light radiated from the gaps between Fiona’s fingers as Kim’s skin knitted back together. 

Fiona turned to glance at the shirtless man, taking note of the livid red and blue blotches marring his torso. “How the hell did you manage that?” 

"We don’t have time for this.” Ross insisted through gritted teeth. “Who is going to do the location spell?” 

Kim examined her healed hand for a moment as Fiona approached Ross, her hands outstretched to being healing. “One person isn’t going to cut it for this.” Kim said. “Jason has Smith.” 

Trott’s eyes widened as Kim spoke, he fell back onto the sofa. “But? He’s dead.”

Ross didn’t thank Fiona as she finished healing him, instead he strode forwards to eye the ruined picture on the broken table. “Was pretty alive when I saw him earlier and when he bit me on that camping trip.” 

Hannah gasped, holding a hand to her mouth. “We never thought to find out who had...” 

“We are so fucking stupid.” Trott bit out. “If we had just took the fucking time to…” 

Ross shook his head. “Look, I have no idea who the hell this guy is to you but I didn’t want to talk about it and I would have just told you all to fuck off if you had asked.”

“Who the fuck is Jason?” Sips asked, voicing the question running through the rest of the group. 

“We don’t have time for a history lesson right now.” Hannah said. “All of you get on the phone and call everyone in.” She told the rest of the room. “Trott, we need to get some stuff.”

Trott nodded and stood. “Gonna need you too mate.” He said gesturing to Ross. “Grab a shirt and come with us.” 

**********

Trott, Hannah and Ross exited the portal into Trott’s bedroom. The smaller man snatched up something from his desk and a towel that was slung over the back of his desk chair before striding out of the room. 

"Where’s your mom?” Hannah asked as she followed Trott out of the door and down the hallway. 

Trott glanced at his watch to check the time. “One of her club things, she won’t be back until tomorrow.” 

Trott took the stairs down two at a time, skidding on the polished stone floor as he rapidly changed direction to go down into the east wing, his friends stumbling after him. 

The double door was as imposing as always, dark, thick, mahogany with golden handles and a large key hole. “When I say, I want you to push the door handles down as hard as possible, you need to break the lock.” Trott said to Ross as he grabbed for Hannah’s hand with one of his own, the other hand going into his pocket to pull out the small Swiss army knife he had pocketed in his room.

“Don’t hold back.” Hannah added, Ross nodded. 

Ross’ hand hovered over the handles, not quite touching them as the other two chanted something in a language that Ross didn’t recognise, syllables blending into each other as they rapidly spoke. 

Hannah adjusted her grip on Trott’s hand, her fingers trailing over his wrist to hold his arm as he used his previously occupied fingers to flick a knife out of the tool in his hand. With a grunt of pain Trott slashed at his palm, blood immediately pooling inside as he clenched his fist to push more out. 

Stepping forward, crimson dripping between his fingers Trott pressed his hand to the door which sizzled at the contact, the blood vanishing into the dark wood and not leaving a mark. “Now.” Trott ordered Ross as he wrapped the towel around his wound. 

Ross slammed both hand down, one on each handle with all the force he could muster. The handles split off from the wood with a wrenching sound of metal and wood, the doors falling open to reveal a large room filled with shelves and magic. 

***********

They arrived back at the office with boxes of supplies that Trott directed Ross to put in the second floor common room before they rushed off to the first floor to find the others. 

The room was fit to bursting, most of their friends having answered the call for help. The first smile since the whole thing had started forming on Hannah’s face. “You guys ready?” Hannah asked the group of four sitting at one of the tables. 

Bebop, Ridge, Rythian and Will nodded as one and stood to follow Hannah out of the room. “This will take some time.” She directed at Ross, a hand reaching out to pat at his arm in reassurance. 

Kim reached out and took Ross’ hand. “Let’s go to my room, there’s some stuff you need to know.” 

Trott looked towards the door where Hannah and the others were exiting. “We will find him mate.” He said looking into Ross’ eyes and trying to give him a small smile before he rushed off after the other mages. 

**********

“We’re doing everything we can right now, sit down.” Kim said, her voice void of emotion as Ross paced in the small office. 

It was almost a reversal of their talk that morning, Ross taking up residence on the floor as Kim sat on the chair staring at her shelf of memorabilia. 

Ross didn’t say anything, his eyes glazed over staring at nothing so Kim started talking. 

“My dad said it used to be worse, when he was a kid.” She started. “He calls it ‘the war’ as if it was some collection of massive battles, but it was just two sides fighting, they weren’t soldiers and it wasn’t something that would change the world.” 

Ross raised his head to watch as she spoke. 

“I don’t know what exactly started it, I don’t think any of us do anymore.” She stated pushing her hair behind her ear. “We told you a little of the magical families…” Kim voiced, watching Ross as he nodded. “There’s three factions. The American’s were neutral. Will, Ridge and Bebop belong to those families and they stayed out of the fighting, leaving the rest of us to our murder.” 

Kim snorted an amused breath. “They had the right idea.” She breathed out before continuing. “The European families split, mine, Trott’s, Hannah’s and Rythian’s on the same side for generations before we came along. Then there’s the others. Pelle, Jonas and Jason were their leaders or generals or whatever you want to call them.” 

“Jason, he’s the one who took Smith?” Ross asked 

Kim nodded. “A few years after I was born stuff started heating up again so my dad decided to send me off to Malaysia to live with some of my extended family on my mom’s side, Trott and Hannah’s parents thought it was the best way to keep them safe too so after a few months they joined me and we lived out in Penang, going to an English speaking school out there when we turned five.” 

Kim brought one of her knees up, her foot resting on the edge of her seat as she wrapped her arms around it. “It was Hannah’s screams that woke me, all three of us shared a room but Hannah’s bed was closest to the door and so they got to her first but she was quick and managed to put up some kind of shield or something that pushed them back from her so she could escape and get to Trott.” 

Ross found he couldn’t look at Kim as she spoke, the look of utter devastation on her face causing bile to rise in his throat and tears to prick at his eyes. “Back then Trott’s powers were pretty much non-existent so I told Hannah to get him out of there and she did, I don’t think she even knows how she did it, one second they were clutching each other on Trott’s bed and the next they were gone.” 

“They left you?” Ross asked. 

Kim nodded. “We wouldn’t have all made it out alive if they hadn’t. Pelle and Jason leapt for me but I haven’t ever really had a great handle on my magic, even in times of panic and so they silenced me with a spell and Pelle slung me over his shoulder and took me to my Aunt’s room where they had gathered up the rest of the family in the house.” 

Kim cleared her throat and pulled her other leg up to join the first, curling in on herself. “They made we watch as they killed them, laughing as they did it. Jonas took particular joy in my suffering, staring me dead in the eyes as he slit my Aunt’s throat.” Kim shook her head, trying to dislodge some of the memories. 

“They left me as a message and a warning. It was Pelle’s idea to have Jason bite me and he managed to convince the others it would be fitting punishment to my father who had apparently killed the rest of Jason’s pack in fights over the years.” 

Ross wasn’t sure how to react to this information or how to comfort Kim who was rocking back and forth on her seat, knuckles white as she clutched her knees. 

“Hannah lost an uncle and Trott lost cousins in the next fight. But then it went quiet again for a few years. We were thirteen and coming into our powers when Rythian’s family were attacked and like always our families rallied to help.” 

Kim paused. “What happened?” Ross prompted, not sure if he really wanted to know. 

Kim took a deep breath and swallowed. “It was a bad one, both sides lost so many. All three of Hannah’s dad’s brothers died, Rythian’s mom, and Trott…” 

Tears slid down Kim’s face as she tried to talk through the pain. “Did you know Trott had an older brother?” She asked. 

Ross met her eyes, colour draining from his face, he didn’t need to be told what happened to know. 

“Stephen was six years older than us, we all looked up to him, Trott idolised him.” She started. “God, I had such a crush on him too.” She breathed out, amusement clashing with the tears. “Marcus said that it was Rachel who cast the spell that killed him as Stephen was fighting with Jason. He said that when Stephen landed the final blow on Jason, Rachel sent a fucking arrow flying towards him, right through his chest.” 

“Marcus was dragged away and Trott’s mom managed to stop him going back right away but he was so angry with himself, and them, and after a couple of weeks he must have figured out a way to find them. Trott came back from school and found a box on the porch addressed to him and his mom so he opened it.” 

The dam finally broke, Kim breaking down into choking sobs that wracked her small frame. Ross crawled over to her, rising to his knees to pull her into a tight embrace, rocking her and stoking her hair as tears rolled down his own face. 

Kim sniffed long and deep, trying to talk through her breakdown. “Trott hadn’t seen the blood seeping out the bottom of the box, he wasn’t to know what was in it.” She stuttered out through sobs. “They hadn’t even bothered to put all the parts in there. They had to bury him without his legs.”


	23. Captive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smith wakes up in a strange place

Smith felt like his whole head was in a vice, his vision throbbed with the beat of his heart but his mind was sluggish, like he was underwater. All of his senses were slow and muffled, ears picking up nothing but a low drone as he tried to focus his uncooperative eyes on his surroundings. 

He coughed, tasting blood and acid as he leant forward as much as his bonds would allow to spit on the floor. His hands were secured behind his back, his feet tied to the legs of a metal chair that dug into his ankles. 

The room was piled with boxes and furniture, looking like some kind of storage room. Two women sat talking at a table not ten feet from him, their voices carrying clearly through the room but not making any sense to Smith in his slowed down brain. 

The blonde woman smiled at him, nudging her friend. “He’s awake.”

The brunette clapped her hands together and stood to approach Smith, she stopped when the few feet separated them and bent forward to catch Smiths eye. “Morning sleepy head!” She grinned. 

Smith raised his head, his shoulders aching against the position they had been forced in for god knew how long. “Who the fuck are you?” He croaked out trying to take in her face, forcing his eyes to focus.

The blonde skipped over and crouched in front of him. “Now that is just rude!” She chided with a wag of her finger. “And we don’t take kindly to people being rude to us.” She threatened, her fingers crackling with white sparks of lightening. 

The brunette rolled her eyes at the blonde’s theatrics. “This is Aubree.” The Brunette supplied with a gesture to the blonde. “And I am Isabelle.” 

“That was quite the display of power you showed us earlier.” Aubree said with interest. “Who are you? Which family do you belong to?” 

Smith licked his lip, tongue running over a split in the skin that stung as he prodded it. “I don’t, I’m first generation.” 

“Bullshit.” Aubree protested. “Telekinesis that powerful doesn’t manifest randomly.”

“Who are your parents?” Isabelle asked, voice demanding. 

"My parents don’t have any powers or know anything about magic” Smith answered, sniffing passed the dried blood clocking up his nostrils. 

Aubree eyed him. “I don’t believe you.” 

Smith tried to flick his hair out of his eye, the hair sprang back into place obscuring his vision and his head spun from the movement. “What the fuck have you done to me?” He groaned, breathing heavy through to push down a wave of nausea.

The door opened, natural light spilling into the room as someone else entered the room. “Not enjoying the drugs?” The man asked, his accent thick and clunky. 

“Maybe you gave him too much Leif?” Aubree hypothesised as she stood to regard him. 

Leif shrugged, not seeming to care. “As long as he isn’t dead then we still have something they want.” He commented. “Nisse wants us all in the library.” 

Isabelle eyed Smith for a moment before looking to Leif. “Should we really leave him alone, what if he chokes on his own vomit or something?” 

Leif opened the door and called into the hall. “Zylus, get in here and make sure he doesn’t do anything.” A young man with a round face rushed into the room with a tray holding various items, Leif slapped him on the back of the head as he passed. “And don’t do anything stupid, if he starts to get more alert then shoot him up again.” 

Zylus nodded rapidly to show he understood and placed the tray on the table as the others left the room, shutting the door behind them with a quiet click. 

Zylus sighed and reached for a bottle of water, unscrewing the top and dropping a straw inside before making his way over to Smith. “They really went to town on your face didn’t they?” He asked.

Smith didn’t reply, watching as closely as he could as the man moved towards him. 

Zylus got closer than the women had, extending his hand to offer the straw to Smith. “Drink.” 

Smith’s eyes flick between Zylus’ face and the bottle, trying to gauge the other man’s intent, seeing nothing malicious he leant forward and took a long pull on the straw, cool water washing down his parched throat and easing some of the ache there. 

Zylus pulled back once Smith had drunk his fill, the bottle almost empty. Standing, Zylus retrieved a chair and set it in front of the other man, sitting down in it with a sigh. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this.” 

Smith narrowed his brows. “Into what? I have no fucking clue what the fuck is going on.” 

Zylus sat back in his chair. “I probably shouldn’t be surprised that they didn’t tell you why they had taken you.” He snorted an amused huff of air out of his nose. “They’ve seen you with Rutherford, Trott and Richards and that guy that Jason bit last year.” Zylus explained. 

Smith tried his best to pay attention but his mind wavered and struggled against the black seeping into the sides of his vision. “What did they give me? I feel like I’m going to pass out.” 

“Something to knock your powers out, I’m not sure what’s in it but it wears off after five or six hours.” 

“Fantastic.” Smith breathed out, scrunching his eyes closed for a moment. 

***********

By the time Kim and Ross returned, the spell had been completed. Hannah stomped into the room and threw down Smith’s shirt onto the sofa. “The fucking bastards cloaked themselves or something.” 

“We got general location down to a couple of states in America but nothing more specific.” Trott said, his voice low and angry. 

“I still don’t get why they would take Smith?” Katie asked from where she was curled up in the corner of the sofa. Trott strode over to sit next to her, his arm going around her shoulders.

Rythian answered, his voice flat. “They want the Megingjörð, it’s what they have always wanted.”

“That’s a myth Rythian, it doesn’t exist, it just gives them an excuse to keep attacking us.” Hannah shot back. 

Rythian avoided everyone’s eyes, directing his gaze to the carpet. “It does, that’s why my family was attacked last time, they found out we had it.” 

“Fuck!” Trott exclaimed, staring at Rythian. “And you never thought to tell us?!” 

“I’m not meant to know!” Rythian protested. “Every time our families have a meeting they swap it around to keep it hidden and protected, it’s been going on since before we were born.” 

Hannah swiped a hand through her hair, fisting the blonde locks in frustration. “They must know that we know Smith and Ross, they might even know about the office.” 

“But, they can’t get in here right?” Katie asked, face white in fear. 

“They would have already tried if they could.” Rythian replied burying his face in his hands. 

"I think I might have something.” Dave shouted from the other side of the room where he was pacing between four computers. “I got a better lock on Smith’s phone.” 

Ross ran to where Dave stood. “What can we do with this?” 

“I can triangulate and find out where he is but we’d be going in blind.” Dave answered as the screen behind him flashed with code that Ross had no hope in hell of reading. “I could try turning the phone on and we could call or message it and maybe see if we can work out a ransom or something with whoever answers.” 

Martyn held up a hand in question. “What if that makes it worse? Shouldn’t we be going to the higher ups with this?” 

Trott snorted a sarcastic breath. “What, my mom who couldn’t give a shit about anything since my dad and Steve were killed? Rythian’s single dad who works so much that he hasn’t noticed that his son has taken to sleeping here rather than going home to an empty house every night? Or are we talking about Kim’s family who…” 

“Enough!” Kim growled at Trott. “There aren’t enough of them left to do anything and they would only drag their feet. If I know Jason and the others, we don’t have that kind of time before they start removing body parts to send back as motivation.” With a long breath, her hand reached out to lay on Ross’ “Do it Dave.” 

Ross found that standing was too much of an effort so collapsed back into a chair and rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward and biting his lip, Kim slipping into the chair next to him. 

“Okay, I will put it on speaker, if someone answers we need someone to do the talking and for the rest of you to be quiet.” Dave said, his finger hovering over the enter key. 

Trott stepped forward after a nod from Hannah, Dave clicked the key and the room was filled with the sound of ringing.


	24. Phone call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone answers the phone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once again to Tam and Nisha, i have no idea what the hell i would do without you two helping me all the freaking time! Love ya!

Tension permeated the air as the ringing continued, the whole room held their breath, listening. 

Ross tried not to fidget as the sound echoed through the room, biting his lip as more time passed and nothing happened, waiting for the inevitable sound of Smith’s voicemail to kick in. 

“Hello?” The voice was quiet, more of a whisper than speech, the hint of an accent at its edges. 

Ross’ hands slapped over his mouth, he needed to be quiet but found it almost impossible when an unfamiliar voice answered Smith’s phone. Kim reached out and clutched his hand trying to calm him as much as she could and looking to Zoey for a helping hand. 

Zoey’s head twitched in the smallest of nods as a calmness swept through the room, smoothing frayed nerves to enable everyone to think more clearly. 

Trott cleared his throat, his eyes wide as he struggled for words. “Hi,” He said, wincing at his own greeting. “Who is this?” He asked, voice more demanding that it had been. 

The line went quiet, the sound of a muffled, rushed conversation barely audible. “Hang on.” The voice said, a loud clunk following the instruction. 

Whispered chanting floated through the phone, Ross shot a questioning look to the group around him. “It’s a silencing spell.” Strife supplied, tilting his head to listen to the sounds. “Wording is a bit weird though…” He added, screwing his face up as he listened. “Sounds familiar but, not at the same time.” 

Bebop strode forward from his seat to approach the computer, confusion pulling his brows together.

The chanting stopped, the sound of the phone being picked up again carried down the line. “Sorry, it isn’t safe to talk here without some precautions.” The voice explained, accent much more prominent at a normal volume.

Bebop raised an eyebrow and leant against the desk with an outstretched arm. “Zylus?” He queried, getting sharp looks from the others in the room. “Is that you?” 

The man sucked in a short intake of breath. “Bebop?” 

Trott turned to Ross and Kim, hands held up in a gesture that screamed ‘What the fuck do I say now?’

Kim pointed to Bebop, ensuring he was looking at her as she mouthed a ‘talk to him’. 

“Yeah… er…” Bebop stuttered. “Is Smith with you?” 

The sound of a chair scraping across a floor. “I’ll put it on speaker.” Zylus muttered, presumably to whoever was in the room with him.

“Hello?” Smith’s voice sounded tired and scratchy, deeper than it usually was. 

Ross leapt from his seat as Trott also lurched forwards to crowd around the microphone. “Alex?!” Ross practically shouted, his voice overlapping with Trott’s.

“Smith?! Are you okay? What happened?” 

“Where are you?” The sounds merged into a panicked noise that wasn’t especially coherent. “We’re gonna come for you as soon as we can.” 

“Hold tight man.” 

“Alex?” 

“Woah, lower the fucking volume guys, my head is killing me.” Smith hissed back. “My face is a bit fucked up according to Zylus but I haven’t seen it.” He said, answering one of the questions. “They knocked me out and when I woke up I was tied to a chair and drugged, my powers don’t work so I can’t do anything.”

Bebop interrupted. “What the fuck Zylus?” He asked, voice filled with anger. “What the hell are you even doing with Jason and the rest of those dicks?” He ranted. “Let Smith go and tell your little gang of murderers to go fuck themselves with a cactus!” 

The sound of Smith snorting an amused laugh at Bebop’s outburst helped to ease some of the tension in Ross’ shoulders, he couldn’t be that hurt if he was still amused by the crude remark. 

Smith’s voice answered rather than Zylus’ “Bebop, chill mate, he doesn’t have much more of a choice of being here than I do right now.” He paused a second. “Ross?” 

“Yeah mate?” 

“Are you okay? You got hit a few times and then you went into the water but I don’t remember anything else.” Smith asked

Ross nodded even though Smith couldn’t see him. “I’m fine, Fiona fixed me up. It was just some cracked ribs.” He said, voice full of nonchalance. 

“Cracked ribs?” Smith breathed out. “Fucking hell Ross, you could have fucking drowned or punctured a lung or…” 

Ross interrupted him. “I’ve had worse.” He assured him.

Zylus jumped in as Ross finished speaking. “Look, we don’t know how much time we have until the others come back. I can’t get Smith out of here myself and any attempt would probably result in us both being killed, so we need you guys to figure something out and quickly.” 

“We need more info than that, how do we know this isn’t a trap?” Hannah queried, voice full of suspicion. 

“Look, I know you guys don’t know or trust me but you do trust Smith.” Zylus answered. 

Trott leant forward onto the desk. “If that even is Smith. How do we know it isn’t a trick?” He asked throwing an apologetic look towards Ross. 

“Fucking hell Trott.” Smith replied. “I’m fucking tied up and drugged here, what exactly do you expect me to do to prove this is really me, you jizz guzzling twat?” 

Trott smirked and met Ross’ eye. “That’s Smith.” They both said at the same time.

Kim sighed heavily from Ross’ side. “We need floor plans and to know who exactly we will be dealing with when we arrive.” Kim said, snatching up a pen and notepad from the table and flipping to an empty page. 

“The fuck you mean ‘we’?” Ross said turning to the short girl with a raised eyebrow. “You aren’t coming, I’m going in alone.”

Trott snorted an amused sound, muttering a ‘try and stop me’. 

Kim stared at Ross, a question in her eyes, not understanding how he couldn’t know the answer. “You guys are my pack.” She stated like it was the simplest thing in the world and said all that needed to be said. Kim turned to gesture around the room with a hand. “You all are.” She continued, meeting Ross’ eye again. “And you protect your pack with everything you have so you are not going in there alone.” 

Ross smiled at her, shaking his head but throwing an arm around her shoulders. Ross pulled her into a one armed hug, bending his neck to place a kiss to the top of her head. “Okay” He agreed in a whisper, breath hot against the top of her head.

Duncan stood from where he had been sitting on the edge of the sofa, contemplating the floor. “I’m not a wolf.” He started. “But all of you guys are my pack too, or family or whatever you want to call it. And if one of us is in trouble then we all are, right?” 

A rumble of agreement wove through the room, nods being exchanged with small smiles. A few shouted affirmative exclamations thrown in for good measure.

“I’m sure you guys are all eager to start your massive orgy after that inspirational Disney bollocks but, could you maybe concentrate on getting me out of here first so I can join in?” Smith asked, voice void of amusement, sounding almost broken.

Smith’s tone sobered the group, Zoey pulled back the fake feeling of calm, urgency seeping back into limbs around the room. “How many of them are there and what kind of powers should we expect?” Hannah asked, watching as Kim rested her pen against the notepad to start writing. 

“Eight.” Zylus answered quickly. “Most are mages, mid to high power levels but they rely heavily on incantations and rituals. Aubree, Telma and Aidan are the ones who can do the most damage, except for Jason of course.” He explained. 

“Powers?” Hannah repeated. 

“Aubree can produce lightening like energy, she usually sticks to the back and picks people off.” Zylus supplied. “You should have a couple of people looking out for her and try and take her down as quickly as possible.” 

“Is that what I was hit with?” Ross asked.

“Yes.” Zylus confirmed. 

“Bitch is gonna get burned.” Smith grunted, barely audible to the group in the office. Ross swallowed passed the lump in his throat at Smith’s words, not used to the warm, safe feeling permeating through his chest at Smith’s protective tone. 

“Telma can fly but in close quarters it isn’t much use.” Zylus continued, ignoring Smith. “Aidan is a low level precog, hard to put down.” 

“How low level?” Turps asked, speaking for the first time since the phone call started. 

“Ten or twenty seconds at most.” 

Turps nodded. “I’ll take the precog then.” He offered. “I can read him if he uses his power and try to even the playing field.” 

“There’s a shape shifter too, but I haven’t ever seen him in a fight, he is pretty new to the group.” Zylus said, pausing for a moment. “Your biggest problem is going to be Jason, he doesn’t care about being hurt or causing collateral damage.” 

“Jason is mine.” Trott said, voice fierce and brooking no argument. 

“Will you be okay until we can start a plan? We need Dave to find building plans and get some stuff together.” Hannah asked throwing an apologetic look Ross’ way.

Smith answered first. “Yeah mate, just don’t take too long. If they shoot me up again I’m not sure what it’ll do to me.” 

“I should be able to convince them to let me keep guard for a day or so before they get impatient.” Zylus agreed.

“It is not going to take that long.” Ross spat, authority rumbling through his voice.


	25. Saving Smith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue gets underway

“I should be coming!” Zoey insisted, crossing her arms. “I can flood them with hopelessness and have this thing over before it even starts!” 

Fiona’s hands find her shoulders, eyes boring into Zoey’s. “If it doesn’t work you have no other way of defending yourself.” 

“Neither do you!” Zoey shot back. “I can’t just sit here waiting to see if you come back.” 

Fiona let out a loud sigh. “Zo, I’ll be fine. I have two Duncan’s and Martyn flagging me, nothing is going to be able to get through.” Zoey bit at her lip, pleading with her eyes. “Babe, I’m sorry.” Fiona said, her face softening. “I know its shit but Smith needs his powers back and I think I can do it, I’ll be in and out as quickly as I can.” 

Zoey nodded gently, giving in. “Be careful.” She breathed out, pressing her forehead against Fiona’s. 

Fiona smiled, burying a hand in Zoey’s hair. “I will” She breathed back.

**********

Lewis looked up from the plans splayed across the table as Hannah and Trott entered the room. “Everyone here?” He asked focusing his attention on the table again. An affirmative noise rippled through the room. “We clear on the plan?” 

The room nodded in unison, silence only broken by the shaky breaths of some of the occupants. 

The shrill ringing of a phone cut through the quiet. Dave answered on the third ring. “Zylus? We’re almost ready man, we just need…” 

Zylus cut him off, voice an urgent whisper. “You don’t have any more time, they’ve taken him for interrogation.” 

“Fuck!” Lewis swore striding over to the computer. “Which room?” 

“Ground floor, south wing, used to be the ballroom.” He answered. “They’re expecting me down there, I have to go. Hurry.” The phone clicked and he was gone. 

Lewis fisted his hair in his hand. “Looks like the plan was for shit.” He said bringing his hand from his hair to thump at the table in frustration. 

“If you guys don’t want to go in without a plan then fine, you can stay.” Ross said to the room. “But I am not leaving him in there. Open the fucking portal Lewis.” 

Kim nodded. “This doesn’t change anything, if any of you don’t want to do this anymore then leave, otherwise we’re going now.” 

Lewis nodded, the small ghost of a smile on his lips. “Good luck everyone.” 

**********

Katie grabbed at Trott’s arms. “You bring him back and don’t you dare get hurt.” 

Trott tried to ignore the moisture gathering in Katie’s eyes, he wet his lips and nodded at her, struggling to find any reassuring words that didn’t sound fake as his stomach swirled with anxiety and fear pounded through his body. 

Katie nodded, sniffing and threw her arms around his neck, pressing her lips against Trott’s in a kiss that screamed urgency and panic. 

Katie turned to Ross standing to her left. “Take care of him for me?” She asked flicking her head towards Trott for a moment. “And be careful and tell Smith that I won’t ever complain about his terrible Scottish accent ever again as long as he comes back safe.” 

Ross gathered her into a tight hug, burying his face in her fiery red curls and taking a deep breath that smelled like safety and home. 

The two men watched as Katie fled the room, not looking back. 

It was time.

*********

Smith was led from the room, hands still tied behind his back. He stumbled through the fuzzy haze of drugs, fatigue and pain as he followed Leif down the hallway to the stairs. 

The room was large, all high ceilings and polished floor. Not too dissimilar from Trott’s house, Smith’s foggy brain supplied as he was forced down onto a hard wooden chair, arms trapped between his back and the struts on the chair. 

“I trust that Zylus has been treating you well.” The man who spoke was tall and imposing, an aura of power and arrogance radiating off him like a physical attribute. Smith said nothing. “Not feel up to talking?” The man asked. “You really should cooperate, it would be a shame to have to damage you further when all we need is a little information.” 

Smith shifted his leg, pushing it out in front of him so he could lean more causally against the back rest of the chair. “GFY mate.” 

The man raised an eyebrow. “Am I meant to know what that stands for?” He asked looked around at the others. 

Smith smirked at the confusion. “It means I’m not telling you shit.” 

Aubree pushed away from the wall she had been leaning against. “How about I give you a taste of what I gave your mongrel?” She threatened. “That should loosen your tongue.” 

The man held a hand out to Aubree. "Low voltage, I want pain not a heart attack.” 

“Yes, Nisse.” Aubree replied, nodding and stepping forwards to stand in front of Smith. 

**********

Martyn stepped through the portal behind two of Duncan’s clones and took in the room as Fiona came through behind him. 

According to Zylus this is where they had been keeping Smith, Martyn narrowed his eyes at the chair with rope still trailing from its legs and moved forwards to make room for the others emerging from the portal. 

“Duncan’s, Martyn, Fiona.” Turps whispered. “With me, let’s go.” 

"We'll be right behind you.” Kim added with a nod to one of the clones.

Martyn followed behind one of the clones, keeping Fiona sandwiched in between another clone and Turps behind him. They moved quietly, stepping carefully through the hallway and peering over the banister to the foyer below before descending the stairs.

They didn’t make it to the ballroom before they met resistance. 

The woman was as small as Kim, white blonde hair fell in messy strands around her face where it had escaped her hairband. 

The man wasn’t much bigger, dark hair cut close to his head, his ensemble of black on black making him seem more solid than the girl. 

“Alright?” The lead clone greeted with a grin, throwing his arm forward to hurl a vial towards the two standing in their way. 

The girl launched herself in the air, the glass shattering against the floor where she had been milliseconds before as she flew out of the way over their heads to land behind them. 

Seeing the dark haired man spluttering against the potion, one of Duncan’s clones and Turps moved forwards to deal with him whilst Martyn spun to help Duncan’s other clone dealing with Telma. 

The girl was fast, Duncan throwing vial after vial and missing as she dodged, using walls and ceiling and floor to twist out of the way, flying around the small space afforded by the hallway. 

Martyn tried to ignore the sounds behind him as Turps fought Aidan but couldn’t help turning when he heard a scream of pain which was followed by a shout of his own as Telma landed a hard blow to his jaw with her booted foot. 

Martyn hit the ground with a pained exhale of breath. Pushing himself up on his knees and rubbing at his chin his eyes darted around for anything he could use. 

Out of the edge of his vision Martyn caught the movement of the others approaching, thirty seconds was what they had agreed on, Turps still hadn’t managed to take down Aidan and Telma was doing some serious damage to Duncan’s second clone. 

A shrill whistle had Martyn focusing on Sips as he ran towards them surrounded by the others, a large pot held in front of him. Martyn met his eyes and nodded quickly as Sips grinned at him and pulled his arm back to throw it towards him. 

Telma kicked the pot aside with a laugh that turned into a struggled scream as vines and roots exploded from the dirt and wrapped themselves around her ankles, pulling her to the ground where they lengthened, snaking up and around her body until only her face was visible. 

Martyn rolled to the side of the hall to rest his back against the wall as the others ran passed to help Turps, jumping over the prone figure in the middle of the floor. Fiona scrambled over to sit next to him. “You okay?” She asked bringing a hand up to brush against Martyn’s already darkening jaw. 

Martyn batter her hand away. “It’s fine, save it for Smith.” 

Fiona nodded taking Martyn’s offered hand after he stood to pull her to her feet. 

“Got any more of those vines left for this dingus or should we just leave him like this?” Sips asked him pointing to Aidan who was stuck to the wall upside down by what Martyn could only describe as some kind of dirt cement.

“Will it hold?” Hannah asked rummaging through the bag at her hip and handing out more vials to the group. 

“For a few hours at least.” Sips confirmed. 

“Leave him.” Ross said taking a couple of vials from Hannah and starting down the corridor again, Kim close to his side. 

**********

Smith was caught somewhere between agony and the blessed relief of darkness, floating in and out of pain like flotsam floating on a stormy sea. He didn’t realise he was screaming until the pain lessened with a jolt and he fell forwards off the chair onto the hard floor. 

Flashes invaded his vision as he tried to blink through the tears that had been streaming down his face without his knowledge, noises surrounded him, shouts and screams and threats dulled to a soft roar as he lay prone on the floor, eyes screwed shut as aftershocks wracked his body. 

He tasted blood and tried to breathe through the stuttering of his heart as it missed beats, its rhythm off, spreading a cold, numb feeling through his chest.

He didn’t have it in him to struggle as he felt something pulling at his arms, waiting for the inevitable pain that he knew was imminent. 

Warm, gentle hands turned him and he found himself looking up at a panic stricken Fiona, her mouth moving rapidly as she wiped at his face with her sleeve. 

Smith couldn’t see who she was shouting to over her shoulder, nor could he understand the words she was shouting.

He was caught underneath the arms by someone smelling vaguely of what his muddled brain could only identify as ‘green’ and pulled backwards to the edge of the room, his head lolling forward on a neck too tired to support the weight. 

 

The feeling started at his feet, a golden heat that ebbed up his legs, growing and spreading like the warmth of the sun through his torso before it engulfed his whole body and pushed away the pain. 

He came to with a gasp. Senses being battered by his surroundings. 

“Smith?!” Martyn shouted, shaking his shoulder until he turned to him. “You back with us?” 

Smith nodded, his hands reaching up to scrub over his healed face, relieved to find it didn’t hurt. “We need to get you out of here, are your powers back?” Fiona asked as the Smith tried to take in the chaos of the room. 

Smith nodded quickly. “Where’s Ross?” He asked using the wall to raise himself to his feet. 

It was utter chaos, spells and vials flying through the air, small groups facing off against each other around the room. It took a few moments for him to spot Ross across the room, Sips at his side as they dodged spells from Isabelle and advanced on her. 

Fiona screamed as the bolt hit, Martyn dived to the side, breaking the connection and rolling as he fell to take the force of the impact on his shoulder with a pop and cry of pain. 

Smith fell, his back colliding with the solid floor, Aubree laughed at him as her whole body crackled with an ice blue energy. 

“Aubree!” Kim shouted from behind the woman in question who spun to look at who had addressed her. 

With a swing, Kim’s fist connected with the other woman’s temple and she fell to the ground, unmoving as Kim shook out her hand. “Do not fuck with my pack!” She spat at the figure on the floor, landing a swift kick to her ribs before offering Smith a hand to stand. “Fancy getting out of here?” She asked. 

Smith laughed and nodded. “Fuck yes.”


	26. Blood, Sweat and Tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More fighting ahead

Sips let out a shout of victory, holding his hand up for Ross to slap him a high five as Isabelle went down. “Get Fiona and Martyn out of here!” Ross commanded Sips as Ross himself strode towards the nearest fight. 

Sips jogged towards Kim as she helped Smith up. “I’m getting those two out, go help the others.” He shouted over the sounds of fighting that permeated the air. Smith and Kim nodded, taking off in two different directions as Sips reached Martyn and Fiona huddled against the wall. “Let’s go.” 

Fiona shook her head. “There’s going to be injuries, I should stay.” 

“It helps no one if you get killed in here.” Sips said holding a hand out to help her up off the floor. 

“He’s right.” Martyn agreed. “Anyone with an injury will come back through the portal and you can heal them there, if you stay here you might get caught in the crossfire.” He said grabbing Fiona’s hand and pulling her towards the door with Sips’ help. 

**********

Neither of Duncan’s clones were whole, many wounds and injuries marring their appearance as they literally threw themselves in front of spells and blows that would otherwise take out their friends. The second clone didn’t even blink as his brother went down with a scream, a hole blown clean through his torso by a particularly high powered spell from Nisse meant for Turps. 

The remaining clone hurled some vials towards Nisse, smoke intertwining and creeping upwards as Nisse stumbled backwards to avoid breathing in the acrid vapour. 

**********

Ross grunted, clawing at the arm held around his throat as Jason went for the knife hanging from his belt. 

Kim let out a cry as she launched herself onto Jason’s back, her own arms around his throat as she tried to pry his hands off Ross. 

With a roar Jason propelled himself backwards and off his feet to hit the wall with his back where Kim was clinging. Kim collided with the wall, trapped between Jason’s back and the unforgiving wooden panelling, legs wrapping tight around Jason’s waist to keep her hold as he smashed her against the wall again and again until she could no longer hold on and fell to the floor with a pained shout.

The arm across Ross’ throat tightened again, Ross kicked his feet struggling to connect with Jason’s feet behind him. With a heave Ross leant forward, cutting off his own breathing further as Jason resisted before throwing his head back to connect with Jason’s face, the force and pain causing him to release Ross.

**********

The mages were spent, exhaustion showing as they finally brought down Nisse with a well-placed spell from Zylus that shattered through Nisse’s resistance and caught him in the middle of the chest. 

Hannah sagged forwards, light headed. Looking to her left she saw the Strife pressing his sleeve to the gash on Bebop’s temple, blood pouring down his deathly pale face. “Get him out of here.” Hannah gasped out through heavy breaths. Strife nodded, shoving his shoulder under the other man’s armpit to support him out of the room. 

Trott searched the room quickly with a whip of his head. Ridge and Rythian were leaning against a wall, Rythian barely conscious, his head lolling forward on his neck as Ridge held him upright shouting for him to not pass out. 

“You need to go.” Trott directed at Hannah as she pushed her hair out of her sweaty face. 

Hannah shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere without Kim, not again.” She said, voice hard. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a blood red potion which she downed in one, colour returning to her face as energy spread through her body. 

Trott held his hand out to accept a potion of his own. “Together?” He asked before throwing his head back to swallow the bitter liquid. 

“Together.” Hannah nodded, taking Trott’s offered hand and running back into the fray. 

**********

Jason growled as Ross landed a glancing hit to his hip, Jason’s leg giving way for a moment as he struggled to find his footing again. 

Ross threw a punch, catching Jason on the side of the head before ducking under a swipe from the knife and kicking out at the back of his knee. A scream of pain and outrage escaping the other man as he rolled to the side and lurched back to his feet.

Ross jumped back out of the way of the knife as it swept an arch through the air. Jason growled, kicking out at Kim sending the small woman flying through the air with a scream. 

Trott let out a shout and went in for the attack, hands moving as quickly as his lips as he shot spell after spell towards Jason, volleys of light and conjured items flying through the air only to be dodged and deflected. 

*********

A scream of pure anguish, horror and denial gave Smith the advantage he needed to fling Leif against the wall and knock him out, falling to rest next to an unmoving Zylus. 

Turning, Smith could see Hannah and Kim kneeling over Trott on the floor as Ross faced off against Jason. Jason adjusted his grip on the bloodstained knife he held as he lunged for Ross. 

Hannah raised a hand above her head, a pale grey translucent bubble springing to existence around herself, Kim and Trott on the floor as they were dive bombed by the shapeshifter in eagle form. 

Smith ran forwards, slipping on the polished floor as he raced towards his friends in panic. Directing a large piece of debris at the eagle, making it drop out of the air like a rock. 

**********

Kim ripped her jacket off her shoulders and balled it in her fists, pushing it against Trott’s stomach. “No, no, no, no.” Hannah rambled, leaning forward so she could meet Trott’s eye. “We’re going to get you out of here, don’t you dare close your fucking eyes!” She said slapping at his face with a bloody hand. 

Tears streamed down Kim’s face as she kept the pressure on the wound. “Come on Trott.” She stuttered out between sobs. “Katie will kick my arse if I don’t get you back in one piece.” She tried to joke, Trott let out a laugh that turned into a pained scream as his chest heaved with coughs. 

Hannah’s hands shook as she frantically searched her bag for something, anything that might help. Turning the bag upside down and spilling glass vials over the ground and running her hand over them in panic, sweaty hands causing her to slip and smash a few against her own palm. 

********

The smell of burning tickled at Ross’ nose as he skipped backwards away from the knife, arms and legs and chest stinging from the various lines that had been carved into his skin by Jason’s slashing movements. 

Ross’ foot connected with something as he tried to side step, sending him hurtling into the wall. 

Jason advanced on him, teeth and knife catching the light as he bore down on the Ross. Arm drawn back to attack. 

Ross slid to the floor as Jason was ripped from in front of him by an unknown force, Ross scrambled forwards on his hands and knees towards Kim, Hannah and Trott. 

**********

“I should fucking kill you. You don’t deserve to live.” Smith spat, his power wrapped around Jason’s throat as he held him a foot off the floor and watched as his face reddened. Flames licked up from the floor as the wood combusted in a shower of ash, Jason’s feet kicking through the air in an attempt to struggle. 

“Alex!” Ross pleaded from his position on the floor next to Hannah. “We need to get Trott out now!” 

Smith let out a ragged breath and threw Jason with all he had, cracking the wall with the force as Jason slumped to the floor. 

Ross gathered Trott in his arms, Kim in front of him still holding the blood soaked jacket to his stomach. “Hurry!” Hannah urged running to lead the way back upstairs to the portal. 

Smith eyed the devastation in the room, their enemies lying unconscious in various states of injury, running a hand through his hair he jogged towards Zylus still passed out near the door. Bending down, Smith hauled him up by his arms and slung him over his shoulder, not bothering to extinguish the flames that were spreading through the room as he hurried out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fight scenes are new to me so i'm not sure how well this is done but i did my best guys.


	27. Through your eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Those left behind wait for the others to return

Duncan sat forward on his seat, his elbows resting on his knees. “They’re all in, first group about to move out.” He announced to the others who were in various states of distress around the room. 

Panda shot a dark look towards Zoey pacing up and down the length of the room, biting her lip and fluttering her fingers in barely contained panic. “Zoey!” Panda shouted, causing all eyes in the room to focus on Zoey as she stopped dead still in the middle of the room. “Stop fucking projecting, we’re wound up enough as it is!” 

“Oh god, I’m sorry.” She replied, hands coming up to push her hair out of her face. “Everything is just so ramped up and I can’t block you all.” 

Sjin huffed from his seat next to Lewis. “You need to control it or leave.” He said, voice hard. 

Zoey swallowed passed the lump in her throat and scrubbed at her face, sniffing back the tears.

“The fuck guys?” Katie asked throwing a stony look towards Sjin as she made her way over to Zoey, reaching for her hand. “Deep breaths, okay Zo?” She said squeezing the other girl’s hand. Zoey took a few deep breaths, Katie felt the small change in her, some of the anxiety lifting. “Do you need your necklace?” She asked gently. 

Zoey nodded, a small gesture as her face turned pink. “It would probably be best.” 

Katie nodded and rushed off out of the room. 

Sjin threw his head back, thumping off the back of the sofa with a ‘thud’ “Zoey…?” 

Zoey shook her head at him and held up a hand to let him know that there was no need for an apology. 

“They’ve been intercepted.” Duncan announced, his eyes darting left and right under his closed eyelids. 

Katie jogged back into the room, a piece of crystal on a silver chair held from her hand. “What’s happening?” She asked as Zoey threw the chain over her head, the crystal glowing a faint blue for a moment as it made first contact with her skin, blocking her powers. 

“Turps!” Duncan shouted suddenly throwing his body to the side as if dodging an invisible blow. 

Duncan whipped his head around to look to his right where nothing but blank wall existed. “Duck!” He shouted at nothing, followed by a wince. 

Katie watched in horror as Duncan’s head snapped back as if he had been hit in the face, his hands coming up to cup at his nose. 

Lewis dropped the bottle he had been fidgeting with to fall to his knees in front of his friend, his hand clasped at Duncan’s shoulders. “Duncan, you’re in too far. Pull back!” 

“I’m fine.” Duncan protested, wincing against more invisible blows. 

“Pull back or we’ll pull you out completely.” Lewis threatened as a bruise started forming around Duncan’s eye. 

Duncan took a deep breath, gritting his teeth as he pulled back and opened his eyes, blinking against the bright lights in the office. “They’re in the main room, Fiona and Martyn are with Smith.” 

“Is he okay?” Katie asked, urgency in her voice. 

Duncan shook his head but then broke out into a huge grin, leaping off his seat to punch at the air with a victorious shout. “You fucking show her Kim!” 

“Duncan man, we need you to tell us what the fuck is happening!” Lewis scolded from where he had been flung back onto the floor. 

The tall man sunk back to his seat with a sheepish smile. “Fiona was hit by that Aubree girl’s power but Martyn got her out of the way and then she started going after Smith again but Kim knocked her out with a fucking punch, they’re all fine.” Duncan supplied. “Sips is bringing Martyn and Fiona back now, they’re just leaving the room.” 

**********

Sips came through the portal last, making sure Martyn and Fiona got through safe before leaping through himself. 

“It’s fine Fiona!” Martyn protested holding his left arm in his right with a face full of pain. 

Fiona ignored him as she grabbed at his shoulder, hands already radiating light. “I heard it pop out of the socket, it’s not fine.” 

“Shit, back, don’t, no.” Duncan muttered, trying to keep himself still as he watched through his clones eyes. 

The room descended into silence as Fiona wrapped Zoey in a hug, whispering reassuring words into her ear. All eyes fell on Duncan again as he rocked and filched at what none of the others could see. 

Time seemed to mean nothing as Duncan watched, breathing out updates every now and again, reassuring the others that no one was seriously injured yet as he flicked between the two clones. “Bebop’s hit, heads bleeding pretty bad.” He breathed out concentrating and going back in deeper. 

“Turps!” With a scream of agony Duncan threw himself back in his seat, the sofa crashing back into the wall with the force as he patted in panic at his chest, breathing ragged. 

Katie sat up from where she had been flung to the side by Duncan’s failing limbs. Tears coursed down Duncan’s face as he struggled for breath. Katie leaned over him, hands on his cheeks. “Duncan!” Patting gently at his face until his eyes focused and he look at her properly. “You’re okay, what happened?” 

Duncan laid his hands over Katie’s on his face. “Clone one is down, dead.” 

“Is Turps okay?” Lewis asked, his eyes wide. 

Duncan nodded quickly. “The hit was meant for him but the clone got there in time and took the hit.” 

“Oh thank fuck.” Lewis breathed out. 

Katie offered Duncan a small smile and let her hands fall from his face. Turning his head Duncan addressed Lewis. “Bebop, Rythian, Strife and Ridge are on their way back.” Lewis nodded at him. “Fiona?” Duncan said, meeting her eyes. “Bebop is going to need a heal, maybe Rythian too but he might be okay with potions.”

Fiona nodded at him and stood to prepare for the new arrivals. 

**********

“I’ve lost the last clone.” Duncan announced with a hand in his hair as Fiona finished healing Bebop. “Knocked out I think.” He added rising to stand properly for the first time since the others left. 

Lewis patted at his arm. “You did really well man, I’m sorry about the clones.” 

Duncan nodded at him but didn’t say anything. 

The wait until the rest of the group returned was excruciating, they were totally blind for the first time, not knowing what was going on and the tension was almost suffocating. It wasn’t much more than five minute but it felt like hours before Ross barrelled through the portal with Trott in his arms, Kim in front of him holding something to Trott’s stomach. 

The scream from Katie was almost inhuman as she launched herself towards them, Hannah colliding with her to hold her back as she struggled, hitting out at the other woman with everything she had. 

Fiona rushed forwards as Ross placed Trott on the table and stepped back, face void of any colour. Katie’s screams were incomprehensible, shouts of instructions from the others around Trott being lost in the cries of anguish. 

Ross’ breathing was shallow and fast, blood loss making him light headed and shaky as he stepped towards Hannah and Katie. Ross wrapped his arms around the redhead from behind, holding her in a vice grip as he sunk to the floor, pulling her to rest in his lap and rocking backwards and forwards. 

Tears blurred his vision as the others rushed around but he couldn’t understand anything that was happened. Katie clawed at his arms, pulling at bleeding skin with cries of panic and orders to let her go. Ross gritted his teeth and welcomed the pain, burying his face into the back of Katie’s shirt and closing his eyes, concentrating as hard as he could on not passing out. 

“Heal him!” Katie screeched trying to loosen the hold Ross had around her middle by digging her short nails into his fingers, blood filled half-moons marred the skin but Ross didn’t release her. 

Fiona let out a cry, her blood covered hands rubbing at her face and leaving streaks of red on her pale skin. “I don’t have enough power, I can’t do it!” She fell back onto the floor, pulling her knees to her chest. “Oh god, oh god, oh god, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I echo Fiona's words and ask for your forgiveness for this...


	28. Smith's return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smith returns

Smith rounded the last corner towards the room he had been held captive in earlier that day, Zylus a solid weight on his shoulder as Turps greeted him. 

“We’re the last through.” Turps informed him as Smith strode towards the portal, stepping through. 

Turps jumped after Smith, landing into a room filled with more chaos than the ballroom had been. “Close it up!” Turps instructed Lewis who waved an arm, the portal blinking out of existence. 

Trott was spread out on a table, blood starting to pool on the wood where it escaped through Kim’s shirt pressed against him. 

Smith glanced at Katie, struggling in Ross’ arms but had to look away, the raw devastation and agony too much to bare as she screamed Trott’s name and raged at Fiona. 

Fiona rocked on the floor, the volume of her apologies getting louder and louder as she brought her hand up to cover her ears from the sounds of Katie’s breaking voice and the shouting of the others in the room.

Smith leant down, yanking Fiona up off the floor. “Trott doesn’t have time for you to have a fucking breakdown. Think of something to fix him now!” Smith ordered towering over the terrified girl as Hannah and Nilesy barrelled back into the room, arms full of potions.

Zoey pushed at Smith with everything she had but it had no effect. “Get the fuck off of her!” 

Fiona shook her head quickly. “He’s right Zo, we need to do something now. I just, I haven’t got enough power left to do it.” 

Strife cleared his throat. “I might have an idea.” 

All heads whipped around, Katie’s screaming quietening as everyone urged him to continue. 

“You could take it back.” Strife said to Fiona, walking over to where she stood. “Take back the other healing that you’ve done, ramp up on a load of energy potions and try again.” 

“I have no idea how to…” Fiona protested looking between Strife and Smith. 

Rythian stepped forwards. “I can do it for you.” He offered, “You just need to accept the power back.”

Fiona nodded rapidly. “I can’t un-heal Bebop, he wouldn’t have made it if I hadn’t.” 

Smith licked his lips and smirked. “I guess it’s finally time to pay Trott back for all those insults over the years.” 

**********

Ross couldn’t concentrate anymore, multi coloured spots dancing across his vision as the room stopped screaming, his arms fell slack from around Katie as he teetered on the edge on consciousness. 

Smith's face filled his vision as he slumped backwards to lie on the floor. “Hey, hey, hey!” Smith said pulling the cork out of a vial with his teeth and lifting Ross’ head up with one arm. “You have lost a lot of blood mate, you need to drink this.” 

Ross smiled lazily. “Always looking after me.” He muttered loosing himself in Smith’s eyes for a moment.

Smith smiled back holding the vial against Ross’ lower lip. “Drink up, gorgeous.” He coaxed gently.

Ross opened his mouth for Smith to tip the contents of the bottle inside, making a face against the coppery taste. Ross made a noise of disgust and brought a hand up to brush at a smudge of blood on Smith’s cheek. “I want to kiss you.” Ross breathed, some of the numb feelings that had been spreading through him receding.

Smith smiled down at him then whipped his head around to look at Fiona and Rythian who nodded at him, indicating they were ready. “Kim?” Smith questioned, the girl in question coming into view from behind Ross’ head. “Look after him, give him a dose every five minutes until you run out.” 

Kim nodded, sliding her leg under Ross’ head and stroking at his hair. 

Ross reached out as Smith leant on an outstretched arm to stand again, pulling Smith off balance. “I fucking love you, you know?” Ross breathed against the hand he was holding to his face, placing a kiss to Smith’s palm. 

Kim snorted in disbelief and shook her head. Smith leant forward on his other arm to lean over Ross. “Your timing is fucking awful, you twat.” Smith said gently pulling his arm away from Ross and pressing a hard kiss to the middle of the dark haired man’s forehead before pushing himself away to join Fiona and Rythian. 

**********

“Are you sure about this?” Martyn asked looking quickly between Smith and Fiona. “You seemed more than half dead when we got to you.” 

Smith sent Martyn a hard look as he pulled a chair out to sit on. “Better than actually dead, which is what Trott’s going to be if we don’t do this.”

Martyn let out a frustrated noise and ran his hands through his hair, walking away from the cluster of people to go sit with Kim and Ross. 

“Do it Rythian.” Smith commanded as Hannah laid out potions on the edge of the table ready for Smith and Fiona to drink once Rythian had pulled the magic back. 

Rythian pushed at Fiona’s shoulder to get her to sit as he stood between Fiona and Smith. Not moving his hand off Fiona’s shoulder, Rythian also clutched at Smiths and muttered a spell. 

Smith tried to follow the words but they had lapsed into Sumerian and he lost the thread, not able to translate as quickly as Rythian spoke. 

Smith grit his teeth against the pain as the magic was ripped from his cells, wounds ripping back into skin and muscle, seeping blood and agony. 

Smith coughed through the feeling of ribs cracking and cartilage crunching as his face imploded with searing heat, thick bands darkening around his wrists and aching in his ankles as the damage from his bonds returned. 

Then the electricity, jumping and searing through him, igniting the nerve endings throughout his whole body, a feeling like lava under the skin burning away everything he knew about pain and stamping its dominance over his whole being as he screamed his throat horse. 

*********

Smith woke to the sounds of a rhythmic beeping that picked up tempo as he came to. His whole body was pinned down and struggling did nothing to ease it. He snapped his eyes open, immediately regretting it when light stabbed at his eyes, making his head ache with shooting pains.

Cracking his eyes open more slowly he became accustomed to the light, then the smell hit. A sharp metallic lemony smell that reeked of sickness and death. Craning his neck he looked down at himself, his body tucked in tightly beneath a pastel blue blanket. 

Blinds covered the windows but they weren’t shut, letting in the sight of the world beyond shrouded in darkness. Smith surveyed the room, noting the other hospital beds with patients sleeping peacefully. 

Reaching down into the pit of his stomach he frowned at the small amount of magic available to him, using it sparingly to loosen the blankets and get his arms free. 

Smith reached up at his face, gently pulling the oxygen tube that was taped to his top lip off before wincing against the feeling of catching hairs as he peeled back the tape holding the IV in his arm. 

Once free of tubes he lifted the blanket to plant his feet on the floor, the linoleum cold against his bare feet. 

With shaky legs he made the one step over to the blue visitors chair and ripped open the bedside cabinet, relieved to find someone had left him some clothes. 

He pulled on the trousers first, a small portion of his brain recognising and smiling at the fact that they were a pair of Ross’ joggers. 

Smith stood to rip the hospital gown over his head, replacing it with an old and worn Star Wars T shirt that was again from Ross’ wardrobe. 

He didn’t bother with socks as he shoved his feet into a pair of trainers and snatched up the hoodie on the back of the chair, muscles protesting against the movement. 

Smith staggered towards the open doors, gripping the wall as he emerged into the hallway. His head spun as he made his way down the corridor, one arm stretched out to the side, fingers trailing against the smooth wall until he came upon a lift. 

Smith stabbed at the button with his thumb a couple of times and listened to the metallic groaning of the lift as it rose to meet him. The doors slid open with a cheerful ‘ding’, he stepped inside leaning heavily against the raining and pressing the button for the ground floor. 

He met no one on the walk from the lift until he came across the reception area of the accident and emergency department. With a deep breath he straightened his back and walked as casually as he could towards the automatic doors and into the frigid night air.

 

It took him until sunrise to make his way across the city, he found himself short of breath often and needing to rest against walls and benches and the ground for minutes at a time before he could continue. 

The sun was rising behind Yogtowers like some kind of divine vision as it came into view. Smith couldn’t control the short bark of a laugh that descended into hacking coughs that wracked sharp pain through his body, lungs aching he took short breaths through his nose and kept going. 

Keying in the code to the security door had never felt this good. Smith practically fell into the office, crashing into the wall with a groan that echoed in the silence of the office. 

Smith heard a shushing noise from the open common room door and the sound of movement. Nilesy poked his head out of the room, eyes widening as he spotted Smith. 

“Fuck, Smith?” Nilesy whispered, voice urgent as he rushed forward to meet the other man. “What the hell are you doing here? How did you get here?” 

“Woke up in the hospital, walked back.” Smith grunted as Nilesy snaked an arm around his waist to support him towards the common room. 

“You fucking idiot.” Nilesy breathed at him.

Smith huffed an amused sound out of his nose. “There wasn’t anyone there.” 

Smith dropped his arm from around Nilesy’s shoulders as he stood in the door way, a grin spreading across his face. Smith ignored the pain as his lip once more split open and the bruises on his face ached from the expression. 

The room was full of sleeping bodies, mattresses covered the large space on the floor where most of his friends were currently asleep. 

Hannah lay curled up against Lewis’ chest on her side, her back pressed against Trott’s own behind her. Trott’s face was buried in Katie’s curls down her back, one hand thrown over her waist where it intertwined with Kim’s hand as she lay on her side with her head on Ross’ stomach, Duncan snoring softly into her neck, his hand on her elevated thigh that rested on Ross’ knee. Ross’ head was turned towards Katie, neck craned down to press against the top of her head.

Smith blinked back tears, swallowing thickly before shuffling forwards into the room.


	29. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end

Fiona woke with a start as Zoey untangled their legs and rolled to her side. “Fiona?” Zoey whispered sitting up to look at her girlfriend who had her hands buried in her own hair. 

Fiona nodded and sat up slowly, sweeping her eyes over the rest of the room where their friends were all still sleeping. “Bad dreams, you know?” Fiona whispered back. 

Zoey nodded at her in the half-light afforded by the brightness of the day seeping through the blinds covering the various large windows. “I’m going to make some tea.” 

Fiona let out an amused breath. “I love you.” 

“Because I make you tea?” Zoey asked as she pushed herself up from the floor to stand, a playful smile on her face. 

“Obviously.” Fiona deadpanned. “What other possible reason could there be?” 

Zoey bit her lip in amusement but didn’t reply, instead picking her way around the room to the door. 

Fiona scrubbed at her face and pushed the blankets off herself so she could crawl over to the close knit pile of bodies in the centre of the room, smiling but also a bit confused when she spotted Smith wedged between Katie and Ross, Katie’s arm clutching at Smith’s shirt in her sleep. 

Fiona shuffled closer on her knees, grimacing as she caught sight of Smith’s face. Bruises and cuts littered his skin, his nose looked to be off centre and a thin line of blood trailed into his stubbly beard from his split lip. 

She paused a second, leaning forward with one hand next to Smith’s head holding her weight whilst the other ghosted over his torso and head, using her power to feel for the injuries. 

Fiona wet her lips and took a deep breath through her nose, slowly releasing it as her hand glowed with a golden light, seeping into Smith. 

She watched as the abused skin on Smith’s face faded from yellow and black to his usual tone, nose realigning and cuts closing. Fiona sat back on her haunches, admiring her work with a small smile. 

“Thank you.” Smith breathed causing Fiona’s heart to jump in her chest. 

“Shit Smith, I thought you were asleep.” Fiona whispered with a nervous giggle. 

Smith tilted his head back and opened his eyes to look at her. “Sorry.” He muttered, meeting her eyes he paused for a few moment, regarding her. “Yesterday, I…” 

Fiona shook her head at him. “You don’t need to apologise to me, you were distraught. Hell, we all were.” 

Smith nodded at her and they both lapsed into silence for a few seconds. “Is everyone else okay? You were all asleep when I got back?” 

“What you gave me was enough to heal Trott so it was only you and Zylus who missed out on the healing.” Noting Smith’s questioning look she continued. “Zylus is fine, it wasn’t even a concussion in the end, just magical exhaustion, he’s sleeping it off at Bebop’s because he wasn’t sure everyone would be okay with him staying here.”

"Of course he should stay here, without him I would never have got out and half of us would likely be dead.” Smith growled through his gritted teeth, anger lacing his words. 

Fiona nodded quickly. “I’m not saying anyone actually thinks that but I figured it would be better to send him off with Bebop so he could sleep and recover in peace without worrying and that we could sort all the rest out once we’re all back to normal.” 

Kim groaned, lowering her leg from where it had been resting on Ross’ hip. “What time is it?” She asked, pushing her hair out of her face without opening her eyes. 

Fiona glanced down at her wrist. “Just after midday.” 

Kim sat up, stretching both arms above her head and rolling her neck on her shoulders. Opening her eyes she caught sight of Smith, Ross curled up against his side with his head resting on Smith’s chest. “Didn’t Nilesy and Panda take you to the hospital?” Kim asked, her eyebrows narrowed in confusion. 

Smith yawned, one hand coming up from where it had been resting on Ross’ ribs to cover his mouth. “I had no idea if you were all okay, I couldn’t just wait for you guys to come get me.” 

**********

Ross tightened his hold on Smith, waking slowly to the sound of whispered conversation. 

A hand carded through his hair and he leant into the touch for a moment, luxuriating in the feeling of safety and warmth surrounded his sleep addled brain before being brought back to reality with the memories of the day before. 

Taking a long breath through his nose he relaxed as he took in the scent of his friends permeating the air around him and stretched his legs out with a contented sigh. 

“Of course he wakes up as soon as we mention food.” Trott commented fondly from somewhere to his left. 

Ross didn’t comment, burying his face into Smiths t shirt so Trott wouldn’t be able to see him grinning as he brought an arm up to flip the bird in the general direction of his voice. 

“Good morning to you too Sunshine.” Trott replied as Ross lifted his head to look at him. 

“What we eating, I am fucking starving.” Ross asked with a smirk as the others started laughing. 

**********

Their breakfast progressed much as their sleeping arrangements had, a large order of takeout brought online and delivered to the office that was then eaten on what had been their beds. A huge picnic of various cuisines enjoyed as friends revelled in the fact that they were all still alive and able to have their meal together.

They concentrated not on the ‘what ifs’ and ‘could have been’s’, instead focusing on the moment and the feeling of euphoria that floated in the air like smoke, breathed in by those present. 

Laughter punctuated the air as friend good naturedly ripped into friend with bodies pressed close together, making physical contact as much as possible to reiterate the feelings of relief and safety. 

Bebop and Zylus arrived at the tail end of the meal to a raucous round of applause that caused Zylus to turn an interesting shade of pink that Smith and Trott spent almost twenty minutes trying to decide, rather loudly, if it was closer to magenta or maroon. 

The crowd eventually thinned, most of the couples disappeared first, Trott and Katie, Kim and Duncan, Hannah and Lewis. 

Ross didn’t want to leave, prolonging his stay with his friends as much as possible before he would have to speak to Smith alone and confront the elephant that had been hanging around with them since the morning that Smith had been taken. 

“I need to go out for a bit, I’ll be back later.” Smith said to Ross as he stood. 

Ross nodded at him and watched as he walked away and out of the door, trying to push down the voice screaming at him that he was being a coward by turning to Martyn and starting a conversation. 

***********

Smith was walking along the shoreline when Ross arrived through the portal. Ross leant against a tree and watched him for a moment, smiling to himself as Smith sent a pebble rocketing into the distance, skipping across the water, obviously aided by his power. 

Ross shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking towards the other man, after a few steps Smith turned around and spotted him, a grin spreading across his face that Ross returned as Smith started to walk to meet him. 

“Thought I would find you hiding out here.” Ross smirked at him, hands still buried in his pockets. 

Smith lowered himself to the floor, tugging on one of Ross’ arms to get the other man to sit with him. “I would deny the hiding thing but I just needed some time alone.” 

Ross pulled his hands out of his pockets and sat, leaning back on one outstretched arm. “Yeah, almost dying does kind of lead to introspection.” 

Smith shook his head. “I couldn’t have cared less about my own life but if Trott or you had…” He trailed off, taking a deep breath before throwing the dark haired man a beaming smile. “But that doesn’t matter, it didn’t happen.” 

Ross shuffled closer to Smith, his arm coming up to wrap around his shoulders and pull Smith against his chest. Smith leant into the touch, the side of his face pressed into Ross’ chest as Ross pressed a kiss onto the top of his head. “No, it didn’t.” He confirmed, sounding as shocked and relieved as Smith felt. 

They lapsed into silence as Smith brought his own arm up behind Ross to wrap around his waist, the two men watched the waves as they lapped at the shore and the light started to fade, turning the sky into a kaleidoscope of colours. 

Ross’ hand stroked up and down Smith’s arm in a pleasant rhythm, causing goose bumps to rise on Smith’s bare arm. 

“I remember, you know?” Ross said, letting his hand fall from Smith’s shoulder so he could lean back and look the other man in the eyes. 

“Remember what?” Smith asked, also leaning back. 

Ross wet his lips and automatically broke eye contact, turning his head forwards to watch the sunset. “What I said whilst I was delirious from blood loss and shock, when Trott was…” He couldn’t finish the sentence, the emotions still too raw. 

Smith watched him for a moment before turning his whole body until he sat facing Ross, one hand buried into the sand on the other side of Ross so their torsos were only a few inches apart, forcing Ross to look at him. “We’re all fine Ross.” Smith said, his eyes locked with Ross’. 

Ross nodded gently, closing his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath. He opened his eyes slowly, a smile tugging at his lips. Smith wasn’t making this easy on him, not acknowledging the fact that he knew what Ross was referring to. 

The dark haired man raised his hand to bury in Smith’s sandy locks, pulling his face closer so he could place a long, closed mouthed kiss to Smith’s lips. 

Smith’s free hand rose to rest against Ross’ neck as he leaned forward to capture the other man’s lips again in a kiss that spread a fluttering feeling through Ross’ stomach, giving him the confidence he needed to voice his next words. “I meant it, what I said.” Ross started. “I love you, Alex.” 

Smith bit his lower lip and smirked at the same time, a pleased hum escaping his throat at Ross’ declaration. Smith made sure Ross met his eyes before he spoke, angling the other man’s head with his hand. “I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it guys... 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the ride. Thank you for reading!
> 
> Much love to each and every one of you
> 
> Vex xxx

**Author's Note:**

> questions and feedback much appreciated!


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